


My Little Pony: The Test of Friendship

by ArmoredWingBolt



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 46,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24120463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArmoredWingBolt/pseuds/ArmoredWingBolt
Summary: Another adventure is in stored for the Mane Six. The cutie map has summoned all of them this time and the problem is in Ponyville? Does it have to do with the three newcomers who arrived? What is their connection and what caused them to lose their friendship in the first place? This challenge may be bigger than they thought as secrets lie ahead. Will they be able to solve it? What will they uncover?
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1- The Griffonstone Race

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a story so I apologize if it's not to your standards.
> 
> The timeline of this story is taking place between seasons 5 and 6.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

It was a beautiful day in the land of Equestria, the sun was shining brightly and everypony around the land seemed to be enjoying the day. Even some of the more fearsome creatures were out, taking the nice weather as an opportunity to explore the lands and hunt.

But in one area of Equestria, the land may have seem bright but the atmosphere seemed more dark and gloomy. Not one griffon stopped to greet one another in their rush to start their day, flying to and from to get where they needed to be. Griffonstone was one place in Equestria where the creatures didn't get along so well, they fought and argued almost all the time, and there was never a nice word that came from their beaks.

A few griffons stopped and turned their heads as the sound of hooves clicking into the ground was heard down the road, becoming closer and louder with each passing second. Soon enough it was clear who it was making the noise. It was a lone pegasus passing through, wearing a small cloak that didn't cover a whole lot, only the head and mane but you could see it's wings that indicated it was a pegasus.

Many of the creatures turned away and departed from the area once the pegasus arrived, they didn't care that much about who it was or why the pegasus decided to come to their town and would rather be somewhere else instead of standing there, watching the pegasus walking by.

Glancing around, the pegasus trotted on through the town, the pegasus noticed all the glances from the other griffons and there were some scowls directed at the new visitor but didn't pay much attention to them and continued moving through town. After awhile interesting gossip could be heard that peaked the pegasus's interest and stopped to listen more into the gossip.

At the closest corner was a group of three male griffins, one griffon was bigger than the rest of them but didn't seem like he was a bright individual, the second griffon was the smallest and seemed to look more crazy and wired like he just had a shot of caffeine, and finally the third griffon was about taller than an average build griffon but his build was more broad and seemed like he was the leader of the group, he had a scar from the top of his forehead that trailed between his eyes and curved below the eye on the left cheek. He might of been a warrior in his prime but he was a mighty looking griffon still that could probably beat both of his goons and a few other griffons if you got on his bad side.

"D-d-did you hear?" the small twitchy griffon exclaimed, the other two listening closely.

"Some p-p-pony managed to pull of the l-legendary Sonic Rainboom awhile back" he continued to explain through his stuttering speech.

"Yeah... I heard it was a really pretty rainbow." The biggest griffon mentioned, his speech was slower but still easy to understand.

The griffon with the scar didn't seem to care too much about the topic and just stayed silent.

Upon hearing the conversation, the pegasus moved closer, clearing their throat to draw the griffons attention. "Excuse me" the pegasus said in a fairly deep voice indicating it was a male voice.

The griffons stopped their conversation and turned to the stranger. The scarred griffon opened one eye to look towards the pegasus. "What do you want?" he asked in a gruff tone.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation" The pegasus answered.

"Yeah, and…?" The scarred griffon asked while studying the pegasus, the other griffons just staring with the tweaky griffon growling like a dog and the big griffon trying to pull the tough guy look.

"Is it true, there's a pony that pulled off the legendary Sonic Rainboom?" The pegasus asked.

The scarred griffon paused for a second before asking "Why do you want to know?"

The pegasus could be seen smirking through his cloak but still not be able to see the face as they answered, "Well... I've been looking for some good competition, but unfortunately, nopony has been able to give any challenge recently. Perhaps you can help direct me to this pony who was able to break the legend"

The scarred griffin started chuckling to the response which caused the other two griffons to laugh hysterically. The scarred griffon composed himself and quieted the other two and spoke. "You? Against the Sonic Rainboom? I doubt you could even beat a griffon, let alone the pony who pulled that off"

The pegasus continued smirking. "Is that a challenge?"

"Only if you aren't scared to lose?" The griffon taunted.

"When I win, I'm going to make you eat those words" The pegasus responded.

The scarred griffon grinned. "You got guts pony, I like that. What's your name?" he questioned.

"Tell you what...you beat me in a race and I'll tell you, but if I win, you tell me where this pony is. Deal?" the pegasus held out his hoof for an agreement.

The scarred griffin smirked and shook the pegasus's hoof. "Deal. Three laps around Griffonstone and finish at the center of town...against all three of us" he threw in the game changer.

"Three against one? That's not very fair, now is it?" The pegasus asked but not sounding concerned about it.

"You wanted a challenge!" the small griffon noted. "Unless you're too chicken" The big griffon added.

The pegasus narrowed his gaze. "As long as you keep your end of the deal, this will be a piece of cake"

The three looked between one another, not believing this stranger could beat all three of them. "We start at the center of town" the scarred griffon said as he flew off with the other two following behind him, leaving the pegasus to follow them.

They all flew into town and landed at the center causing many of the other griffins to turn their gazes to see the three griffons and a cloaked pegasus.

"Listen up!" the scarred griffon announced. "This little pony has decided to challenge us to a race, so we're going to give boring old Griffonstone a race to make things a little less boring here!" he declared.

There were low murmurs and gossip starting to be passed from one to the next. Some were saying that the whole thing was a joke and that the pegasus wouldn't stand a chance against three griffons. Others were more positive, believing that it was going to make the day more interesting and draw away the boredom that had settled here.

As the race was being prepared, the pegasus removed his cloak, causing more murmurs to chorus through the crowd. Some femalegriffons thought the pegasus looked kinda attractive for a pony, with his blue colored body being bigger and broader then any other pegasus they have seen and with a wild looking mane and tail of red and yellow colors that looked closely related to a flame.

The stallion could hear some of the females talking about him but ignored them, giving off a more rebel vibe about him, which kinda sparked the females interest in him.

The scarred griffon was getting annoyed with the talk about the pegasus and interrupted the conversations, "Enough messing around, let's start the race!" he declared, glaring at the pegasus.

Tossing his cloak aside, the stallion took to the starting line and positioned himself into a starting stance. "Whenever you're ready" he smirked with confidence.

The three griffons got ready as well to take off, all of them wanting to beat the over confident stallion.

An older looking griffon approached to start the race. He looked around as the crowd silenced before starting the countdown for the race to begin.

"3"

The competitors lowered their stances even more to get a better chance to explode out of their stances while murmurs ran through the crowd.

"2"

Their wings unfurled, flapping a few times to get ready to go.

"1"

The other griffons were counting down with the older griffon and were on the edge of their seats when suddenly…

"GO!"

The four competitors flapped their wings as hard as they could and took to the sky, leaving behind a crowd of cheering griffons.

The stallion easily took the lead and made his way outside of the town, wrapping around some of the tall buildings, the wind was whipping through his blue fur, throwing his untamed mane behind his head as he flew. Behind him, the griffons were catching up. The scarred griffon looked to the other two, giving a knowing grin. They nodded and picked up their speed, coming up on both sides of the pegasus, almost surpassing him.

"Still think you can beat us?!" The small Griffon exclaimed. "Griffins are the best flyers around!" he added as he looked over the pegasus to the big griffon and winked. The bigger griffon had a puzzled look on his face for a second until it finally clicked what he was suppose to do and nodded.

The pegasus could tell the two griffons were up to something and felt them getting closer to his wings. He had a feeling he knew what they were up to and had to time his movement just right.

The scarred griffon just tailed the pegasus, watching and waiting for the opportunity to make his move. The two griffons wasted no time and both angled more towards the pegasus to ram both his sides and hold him down while their leader made an easy pass to win the race with no problems.

The pegasus saw them closing in at high speeds and right before the were able to make contacted, he stopped flapping his wings and held them out vertically to abruptly stop his movement and pulled him back like they were parachutes. The two griffons were shocked to see that the pegasus was no longer in their path but couldn't change the flight path in time as they collided with each other and were falling while tangled together. Below them was a couple buildings with nests in them as they crashed into a nest big enough for both of them. It took a couple minutes for them to get untangled and when they were free they looked at each other in anger.

"You big buffoon! You ruined the plan!" The small griffon growled.

"You were in my way first!" The big griffon replied as they continued to argue, forgetting that they were in a race.

After the collision, the scarred griffon was in shock what had happened in front of him. The pegasus easily read their plan and countered it like it was nothing. He saw the pegasus in front of him basically stopping in the air before doing a backflip and almost kicking the griffon in the face. He couldn't react in time to the kick with how fast he was flying at the pegasus.

"Time to kick it up a notch" the pegasus said.

Before the griffon knew it the pegasus flapped his wings extremely hard and zipped farther ahead of the griffon. The burst of wind from the pegasus's wings caused the griffon to get blown backwards, losing control of himself. After a couple seconds of spinning in the air the griffon gained control and looked around at the situation. He noticed that the pegasus was farther ahead and that the other two griffons were bickering in a nest below him.

He shook his head in disappointment at the other griffons. "Idiots..." He growled before flying back after the pegasus , gaining more speed every second to catch up to him. The pegasus finished the first lap with ease as he looked back to see the scarred griffon catching up on him.

"Two down, one to go" He smirked as he looked forward narrowing his crimson red eyes at what was coming up in front of him which was the same tall buildings he had to loop around earlier and repeated the same movement.

The scarred griffon saw the pegasus keep his lead and looping around the buildings with ease. "This pegasus knows how to move" He smirked, "Good...I didn't want this to be an easy race." He pushed his wings to go faster as he started tailing behind the pegasus, getting closer and closer.

The pegasus looked back and saw how close he was getting and only smiled with confidence as he slowed down so the griffon could be right next to him.

"So you gonna be fair now or do you have more dirty tricks for me?" He said

The griffon chuckled, "I'm impressed you saw through that, not many griffons can pull a move like that so quickly. But those fancy movements aren't gonna help you beat me, I'm one of the top griffons in Griffonstone." His voice raised higher. "Show me you're very best!"

"You want to see my best? Fine, on the last lap we give it all we got. How does that sound?" He asked

The griffon agreed, "Better not disappoint me."

"Same goes to you," The pegasus replied.

The two competitors maintained an equal speed as they glided through the second lap.

On the ground, the older griffon who did the countdown stood in the middle of town watching the two competitors fly past him.

"I haven't seen him smile like that in a long time...maybe this pony can help him bring that old spark back in him..." The older griffon said as he continued his gaze at the two.

Back to our competitors, they finished looping around the buildings again and reached the final sprint of the race. With determination in both their eyes they pushed forward, the griffon felt his wings starting to burning as he pushed with all his might. He started gaining the lead against the pegasus and could see the finish line in sight. "Out of every creature with wings, you were the by far the best I have ever gone against. It was a good race but looks like I win." He smiled, almost 100 yards from the finish line.

Before he could finish enjoying his lead the pegasus's voice could be heard in his ear. "I wish I could say the same...but its time I finish this."

Before the griffon knew it, a ball of fire zoomed past him, leaving behind sparks of blue lighting surrounding the fire, passing the finish line. He looked behind him to notice the pegasus wasn't behind him anymore and turn his head to the finish line only to be shocked to see the pegasus already landed past the finish line.

The pegasus looked back towards the scarred griffon before looking towards the crowd as they cheered for his win.

The griffon landed behind the pegasus and just watched smirking in victory to the crowd with his hoof in the air. He could here the sound of wings flapping behind and a thump as he turned around to see his two lackeys behind him with shame on their faces and their heads tilted down, avoiding eye contact with him.

"We're sorry boss..." The big griffon sighed in defeat.

"We let you down big time..." The small griffon added.

The scarred griffon looked back at the celebrating pegasus and smiled. "You know...I'm not mad."

The two griffins looked up at the scarred one in shock. "Really?" The big griffon asked.

"Yeah...for the first time in along time...I actually felt alive racing again." He answered.

The pegasus finished his showboating after hearing the scarred griffon speak up. "Guess you won fair and square."

The pegasus turned around to face the three griffons, he grinned at them, "Thats what happens when you try to play dirty."

The two griffons behind the scarred one were getting a little upset and started a low growl before the scarred one lifted his claw to silence them and replied, "You're right, playing dirty tricks like that isn't right and I won't be pulling stuff like that anymore."

"Well I got to race some griffons for the first time, so it was a new experience for me. Glad I got this chance." He smiled as he brushed himself off casually.

The scarred griffon smiled back, "Guess I have to hold my end of the deal now."

The pegasus nodded, "So who is this pony that pulled off the Sonic Rainboom and where can I find them?"

"I don't know the name...but I heard they are in Ponyville." The scarred griffon replied casually.

The stallion thought for a moment. "Ponyville, eh?" He nodded and looked to the griffons. "Thanks for the info, but I better get going now," he turned to walk away before the scarred griffon interrupted him.

"If you think you can beat that pony, you got another thing coming. You barely beat me and I heard that the Sonic Rainboom is beyond any speed any flier has ever had."

The stallion chuckled, "Thanks but I think I'll be fine." He continued moving forward but stopped to looked at the griffons. "If you ever want a rematch...come find me. The names Flamebolt," and with that he flew off, away from Griffonstone into the direction of the sun.

"Flamebolt...I'll remember that," he stared at the fading figure of Flamebolt in the sky.

The older griffon from earlier appeared next to the scarred griffon. "So did this race help you get your motivation back, Gilford?"

Gilford looked to the older griffon. "Yeah...now that I have some competition again but I doubt he will be that much better the next time we meet."

"Oh I think you have a long way to go before you face him the way you are." The older griffon replied.

"Why do you say that?" Gilford asked.

"It was obvious that pony was still holding back...did you not notice how he showed no exhaustion and was barely breaking a sweat?" The older griffon asked back.

Gilford thought back to the race and talking to Flamebolt and then it clicked as he realized what the griffon was saying and chuckled. "Wow...and I told him to take me seriously...guess I'm the fool."

"Well you know what you have to do now right?" The older griffon asked.

"Yeah..." As he looked into the eyes of the griffon he replied with determination. "Can you train me once again...coach?"

The older griffon smiled and nodded.

Gilford turned back to his lackey griffons, "Grog, Gippy lets start training again. We need to whip ourselves into shape if we want to stand a chance against Flamebolt again."

The bigger griffon known as Grog nodded, "You got it boss!"

Gippy saluted, "We're with you all the way!"

The four griffons flew away from the crowd and began preparing their training regimen.

Back with Flamebolt as he was flying in the air he had a confident grin on his face. "Just you wait...I'll show you who the better flier is." He inhaled before exclaiming, "Next stop, Ponyville!" He sped off through the sky, not knowing what Ponyville was going to have in stored for him.


	2. Chapter 2- A New Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Flamebolt had finish his race in Griffinstone, he received some information that a pegasus was able to perform the legendary Sonic Rainboom. Wanting to see if the legend was true, he was told to look in Ponyville.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope your enjoying it so far, I'm a rookie writer but I still try to make it entertaining!

Bright streaks of sunlight beamed down upon the smiling ponies of the quaint little town. Unlike Griffinstone, everypony there was acquainted with one another and would always lend a helping hoof to those in need.

This town was also known for being the home of 6 brave ponies who have overcome many challenges and obstacles. They had defeated countless enemies that threatened Equestria and all that inhabited the world. They have brought peace and harmony to the land many times and have helped created many bonds of friendship to many creatures that would eventually last life times.

Flamebolt zoomed to the town in a blur of red and orange fire, a trail of bright fire dust with blue electrical sparks trailing just behind. He landed in front of the path that led into the town, causing a few heads from the locals to turn his way. Murmurs could be heard from some of the townsfolk, questioning who this new visitor was.

"So..." he trotted through the town casually, looking around at the scenery. "This is Ponyville" he took a deep breath and exhaled.

"A lot better than the other place I was just at." He said with a low chuckle.

In the distance there was the sound of humming followed by noises of hopping further into town. Suddenly there was a gasp of joy and a blob of pink was mere inches from Flamebolt's face, staring with giant bright blue eyes.

"You're new aren't you?! I just saw you happen to walk into town and I knew I hadn't seen you before, but I thought that was impossible because I know everypony here in Ponyville and if I haven't seen you before that means you must be new!" the pink mare exclaimed in a single breath of air.

Flamebolt eyed this strange pink mare, finding her to be rather strange and a bit annoying. He side stepped her and continued on his way without acknowledging her.

The mare turned and frowned as he walked away. "Hey!" she called out. "You didn't even tell me your name!" she exclaimed, hoping to at least get a name to put to his face.

"Wouldn't you like to know..." he murmured under his breath. "I don't have time to talk, I'm busy!" he called back to her without even turning around.

She hopped after him until she could catch up and was right beside him. "My names Pinkie Pie and if you need any help I can help, I love helping, I mean, I know this place inside and out, of course not actually inside and out, how weird would that be to know everything inside and out!" Pinkie giggled.

Pinkie Pie was a happy go getter earth pony that loved throwing parties all the time. She had a lot of spunk and was happy to always meet anypony new and become friends with them. She is the bearer of the Element of Laughter, she may be goofy a lot of the times but she knows when she has to get a little serious depending on the situation.

"Look, just leave me alone" Flamebolt scowled, in no mood to talk.

"You look like you need a friend to turn that frown upside down!" Pinkie said as she cupped her cheeks and presented a big smile.

Flamebolt stiffed, gritting his teeth in anger and disgust. "I don't need a friend!" he yelled as he took off as fast he could down the road, trying to find somewhere to go that overly happy mare couldn't follow. With every corner he turned and every place he managed to hide in, Pinkie was somehow there, always two steps ahead of him.

"Everypony needs a friend, silly!" Pinkie giggled again.

Finding himself at a loss, the pegasus had enough of the over energetic pink mare and took off into the sky, flying higier and higher before checking to make sure he wasn't being followed.

"Lost her, no way can an earth pony reach me up here" he sighed in relief, glad to be away from her.

"Are we playing tag?!" Pinkie popped up from under a cloud, causing the pegasus to fly back in surprise. "You're it!" she bopped him on the nose and disappeared.

Flamebolt couldn't understand what just happened and how she was in a cloud but groaned in frustration and shook his head. "Alright, enough of this. I have to find that pony quick" he flew in the opposite direction, more pasted the center of the town and landed. "Maybe I can find somepony else to give me directions...and hopefully not deal with that pest again" he murmured.

He looked around and was taken back by the large structure in front of him. A grand castle, tree like in shape with crystal covering it. The suns rays shined off the crystal, giving a beautiful purple glow from the castle.

"How did I not notice this?" Flamebolt asked in surprise.

"Well whoever lives here can probably tell me who the pony is and where I can find them" he headed toward the castle, hoping to get the information he needed without any disruption.

Within the castle walls Twilight, a purple Alicorn whose the princess of friendship and bearer of the Element of Magic, was busy organizing her books again while Spike, a small dragon who is her assistant, took note of each one and helped her to sort them into different piles.

"How long have we been doing this?" the baby dragon complained, putting one more book on an already too high of a tower. "I'm starting to get bored."

Twilight laughed slightly. "Oh Spike, how can you be bored? Organizing books is so exciting" she placed one of her books written by Starswirled the Bearded in its proper place. "Besides, it has to be done."

Spike grumbled to himself, putting another book on the tower, only for it to topple over on top of him and becoming a mess on the floor.

The doors to the castle creaked open and Flamebolt popped his head inside , looking around before entering the castle. "Hello?!...Anypony here?!" his voice echoed through the halls, carrying it all the way to the library.

Spike popped his head out of the pile of books and heard the call and looked up to Twilight. "Twilight, Did you hear that?" he asked, pulling himself out of the book avalanche.

Twilight flew down from the top shelves and looked to the doors. "I did, but I don't recognize the voice. It's can't be one of our friends, otherwise they would of came right here to look for me…" she thought about who it could of been. "It must be a new pony we haven't met yet!" she exclaimed excitedly about making a new friend.

"Spike could you go and greet our guest while I finish putting these books back" she picked up her books in her purple aura that emanated from her horn and went to work at a much faster pace then when they first started.

"You got it Twi!" Spike ran out of the library and headed to the front gates to see who had come by.

Flamebolt however already enter through the doors and was heading down one of the corridors, looking around with interest and amazement. "Not bad, whoever lives here has a pretty good life going for them" he stopped in front of opened double doors, spotting a large round table with six chairs, each with a mark carved into the top of the seat.

"Nice room, this must be an important meeting spot" he entered the room and took a seat in the chair with a lightning bolt cutie mark.

"I feel like one of those generals or something... We will attack while the enemies defenses are down!" he chuckled at his bad impression.

Spike wandered the castle after he found the entrance empty, wondering where their guest was. He could hear voices coming from the main meeting room and headed down that way, stumbling upon the pegasus in Rainbow Dash's chair, talking to himself and chuckling.

"Hey who are you and what are you doing here?" the baby dragon asked with a harsh tone of voice.

Flamebolt stopped what he was doing and turned to see a tiny dragon. "Giving orders to my soldiers" he said nonchalantly still trying to be in character.

"You're not suppose to be in here" Spike warned.

"Well, there weren't any guards to stop me so I assumed it was fine" Flamebolt said, sitting back comfortably in the chair.

Spike gritted his teeth, becoming agitated with this new pony and his overconfidence. "What do you want?" He asked.

"I just came to get some information, figured whoever lives here can tell me" he stretched out and got more comfortable in the chair, stretching his legs and laying them across the round crystal table.

After making contact with the table, a small red glow circled around the table but the two didn't notice and the glow faded.

"What kind of information? Spike asked with caution, not trusting this stallion that basically entered the castle with no permission.

The pegasus eyed him and chuckled before saying. "Well, now that's classified. I can tell that shrimp like you clearly can't help me with what I'm looking for. Who owns this castle anyway?"

Spike was about to say something when a new voice joined the two.

"That would be mine" The voice softly echoed.

Flamebolt turned to the new voice, his gaze looking upon a purple alicorn standing at the entrance. "That's more like it" he grinned as he got off the chair and stood before her.

"I am Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship" she introduced herself. "And who are you?"

Flamebolt crinched at the title and clenched his teeth at the words, he tried to compose himself enough to speak. "I don't just give my name away, and besides I only came to get some information" he retorted.

Twilight frowned, not liking the attitude he was giving her, but she decided to ignore it for the time being. "What kind of information exactly?"

"You see, I'm looking for somepony, and with the info I got so far, I've traced it to this town"

Suddenly the entrance doors bursted open and a rush of wind blew through the hallway leading to the room the three were in and a pink blur zoomed through until it found Twilight. "Twilight! Twilight! Just the pony I was looking for, have you seen a new pegasus around? I saw him in town and I followed him for a while, I think we were playing tag, and then I got distracted because I saw the Cakes. The babies were so cute! Anyway, then I noticed he was gone and I went to find him again, but I lost him and…"

Flamebolt groaned and shook his head at the sight of the crazy pink mare. "Not you again" he took a few steps back.

Pinkie heard the voice and turned to face him. She squealed in excitement and pounced on him, a big grin formed on her face. "There you are! I've been looking all over, see Twilight this is the pony I was telling you about, see, see, see!" she exclaimed.

Twilight approached the two and eyed her. "You know him?"

"Well yeah! We were playing tag" she looked down at him. "You're not very good at it though, when you play tag you're supposed to find the pony who tagged you silly" Pinkie giggled.

"Get off of me!" he shoved her off and got back onto his hooves, dusting himself off.

Pinkie stepped back, a bit hurt by his rudeness, but before anything could be said, the alicorn stepped between them. "There's no reason to be so mean, she's just trying to be nice."

"I don't need nice, I just need information" he retorted, becoming agitated. "I'm looking for somepony who was able to bring a legend to life"

Twilight eyed him. "What kind of legend?" she asked curiously.

"The Sonic Rainboom" Flamebolt answered.

Pinkie gasped and jumped up and down in utter excitement. "You must be talking about Rainbow Dash! Yeah she's fast alright, one of the best and the fastest fliers I've seen anywhere!"

 _'Rainbow Dash?...That name sounds familiar...'_ he thought to himself.

"Why are you even looking for Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked with interest.

Flamebolt snapped out of his thoughts. "It's none of your business!" he exclaimed. "Where can I find her?"

Spike and Twilight exchanged glances then looked up at Pinkie before turning back to the pegasus. "You have to tell us the reason first" she declared.

He sighed in frustration, all he wanted was to know where the pony was, but it seemed that things were becoming more complicated. "Look, if you take me to her, I'll let you know"

"And why should we trust you?" Spike crossed his arms, not trusting anything this stallion says.

"I just need to know something alright, and once I find her I'll get my answer and I won't bother you again" he promised, his voice becoming edgy.

Twilight studied him for a long moment before answering. "Alright we'll help you, but you better not do anything bad to her, she's our friend and you will be sorry if you do anything to her, got it?"

Flamebolt nodded in compliance, not intimidated by her threat.

"Follow me! I know exactly where Rainbow Dash is" Pinkie shouted and trotted out of the room. "She's probably sleeping but I don't know where cause she likes to sleep all over Ponyville, but then again she could be at the academy, or she's over at Sugar Cube Corner... or maybe she went to Fluttershy's…." the pink mares voice become faint the further away she got from the main meeting room until it was just a silent echo.

Spike and Twilight followed right on her heels, leaving the pegasus to trail along behind them.

"I can't believe I'm stuck with these annoying ponies and a dragon" he murmured, keeping his gaze on them, but he was agitated by the whole thing right now. "But they know where this pegasus is...so I have to rely on them for now" he sighed.

_'Just you wait Rainbow Dash, time to see if all my training paid off'_


	3. Chapter 3- Finding the Rainbow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After making his way into Ponyville, Flamebolt was greeted by the spontaneous Pinkie Pie. With her cooky attitude, she started driving Flamebolt crazy so he tried and tried to get as far away from her as possible but she was always there. Finally he got away and found a crystal castle by the edge of Ponyville. Making his way in he meet Spike and Twilight and found out that the pony he was looking for was none other than Rainbow Dash herself. Eventually Pinkie Pie reunited with Flamebolt and the others and the three volunteered to help Flamebolt find Rainbow Dash, now the search begins for the rainbow pegasus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope your still hanging in there! I know it could use some work but hey! It's fun to just make this!

Time went by as Flamebolt followed Twilight, Pinkie and Spike through the streets of Ponyville, looking for Rainbow Dash. There were a few stares from the locals and some were talking, either about the new stallion and his more wild and rebel looking appearance or Twilight and her position as princess, which was still gossip worthy as when she was first introduced as such.

Looking around, Flamebolt took in the sights around him, but was unwilling to speak to anypony or make a comment as the group made their way down the road.

"Sooo...where are you from?" Twilight asked, trying to make small talk to fill the void of silence.

Flamebolt didn't answer, his gaze was still drawn to the scenery around him. He had wanted to look at the town a bit and see what it had to offer as well, but his view was quickly obstructed by a hoof. A purple hoof was waving in front of his face and snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I said, where are you from?" Twilight asked again.

"Where else, Cloudsdale like most pegasus." he snorted in an impassive manner, avoiding eye contact.

"Oh wow, I've been there a few times myself, but I don't think I've ever seen you around" the Alicorn noted.

"That's because I don't stick around too long...Been traveling around Equestria mostly, just came here from Griffonstone" he said, rather unenthusiastically realizing he said more than he initially intended.

"Griffonstone?! How cool! I was just there with Rainbow Dash a while back helping a griffon with a friendship problem, who was also Rainbow's friend!" Pinkie exclaimed. "They were so grumpy and big meanies, but nothing a little friendship can't fix!"

"Really?! That's so cool!" He sarcastically said before revealing a frown. "Not! I don't care what you did there!" he exclaimed.

Spike eyed him, not liking the attitude he's been giving both Twilight and Pinkie. "You know, you don't have to be a jerk about it. They're just try to make conversation and to get to know you bit."

"Like I care what you think of me pipsqueak. And I didn't agree to follow you three just so you could ask a bunch of question about me I' don't want to tell you." he picked up his pace so he wouldn't have to be so close to the others. All he wanted was to be alone with his thoughts, but with the ponies pestering him, it was hard to do that.

"Why are we helping him again?" the baby dragon questioned.

"As the Princess of Friendship it's my duty to help others, even if they don't want assistance. Besides, once we find Rainbow Dash we'll know more about him and understand why he's so desperate to find her. I bet we'll be able to help with his attitude in no time" Twilight answered.

Spike sighed. "I guess"

As Spike and Twilight debated over helping the pegasus, Flamebolt was lost in his own thoughts. ' _The sooner I find Rainbow Dash the better, I don't need them asking a bunch of questions I don't want to answer'_

Looking over to all the buildings and examining the town he wasn't watching where he was going and almost ran right into Pinkie Pie who had suddenly appeared before him. The pegasus jumped back in surprise, his face dropping once he saw who it was.

"Do you like parties?! I love parties, I throw them all the time for my friends and we have so much fun! Do you like sweets too? Because I make the most delicious sweets in all of Equestria, well, maybe not all of Equestria, but they're pretty good!" she exclaimed not hearing the conversation that was said earlier, hopping alongside him. "You should come by and try some…"

Flamebolt lowered his ears, becoming frustrated by the pink mare and her constant rambling and shouted, "WILL YOU STOP TALKING FOR ONCE!"

The three stopped and stared at him along with any of pony that was near them, becoming silent as they watched him. His breathing was heavy, his body tense as he gritted his teeth in pure agitation. He could feel his blood beginning to boil."I didn't ask for you to come with me and I certainly didn't ask to be bombarded with a thousand questions I don't want to answer! All I wanted to do was find Rainbow Dash and leave! But clearly that isn't going to happen!" he stared directly into Pinkie's face with anger, not caring if anypony else was staring at him and his outburst.

"If I hear one more question I'll just go and find the pegasus myself" He added.

Pinkie Pie's lips began to quiver, her ears low and her hoof shuffling slightly. She hadn't meant to make him upset, she just wanted to put a smile on his face and make a new friend.

"B-but…" She tried to get her words out.

"THAT'S IT! I'M GONE!" he shot to the sky without another word, leaving a cloud of dust behind. The three stood there, coughing and swiping the cloud of dirt away from their faces.

"What a grouch...he didn't have to be such a meanie" Pinkie frowned. "All he had to do was say please..." she looked as if she were on the verge of tears.

Spike went and comforted the pink mare, perking her up slightly. "That stallion is an even bigger jerk than I thought, he didn't deserve to yell at you like that"

Twilight dusted herself off and looked around the area to see if she could spot him, but he was already gone with no clue which directions he went. "Come on, we can't lose him" she said firmly. "I'm going see if I can figure out which way he went, you two go and keep looking for Rainbow Dash."

The two saluted before taking off in the opposite direction from where Flamebolt had left while Twilight headed off toward his direction.

 _'Why is he so intent on finding Rainbow Dash?'_ Twilight thought to herself as she flew.

* * *

Not so far outside of Ponyville, a small group of furry critters had gathered around a shy yellow pegasus. "There you go Mr. Squirrel, now you can share those acorns with the others" Fluttershy smiled as she watched him climb up the tree to share with the other squirrels.

Flutershy was a more timid yellow pegasus that never liked all the intense flying that most pegasus did. She was always kind hearted and enjoyed the beauty of nature and the cute furry animals. She is the bearer of the Element of Kindness and even though she always seems scarred, she will do her best to fight through and help her friends whenever they are in need.

A small white rabbit tugged at her mane, thumping his foot impatiently. "What is it Angel Bunny?" he pointed to his open mouth, waiting. "Oh, are you hungry?" she pulled out a carrot for the little bunny to eat.

Overhead, Flamebolt was heading to the forest to find the rainbow maned pegasus, his eyes scanning the ground like a hawk. "Where could she be?" he muttered to himself.

His patience was running thin with his search."Gah! This is so frustrating!...If that annoying pony would of just shut up, I probably would of found her by now." Rubbing his forehead to soothe the small migraine he was getting from the yelling earlier. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "What's done is done, I need to get back to finding her."

He started scanning the ground again and noticed Fluttershy who was surrounded by many wildlife creatures.

"A pegasus! Doesn't look like she fly's much, but it's worth a shot to get a better idea where to look." His wings flared up as he shot downwards towards the mare.

"Snack time" the shy pegasus called out as the critters gathered closer, but their gazes turned away from the food and looked up to the sky, hearing a whistling sound. Fluttershy noticed they were looking up so she followed suit and saw a pegasus coming at her at high speed. Before any creature could react, the pegasus landed with abrupt force sounding like a crash. The loud landing spooked the animals and caused them to scatter and run back into the Everfree Forest.

"W-wait, come back!" she called out, terrified of the landing that had just happened in front of her. She became silent as she saw the stallion's figure appear from the giant dust cloud that formed from the landing. Fluttershy shook as she saw the figure walking toward her out of the dust cloud, becoming bigger and larger in appearance as it got closer to her, causing her to begin to tremble.

"Hey you, can you answer a question for me?" he asked in a rough tone, his now visible gaze was cold and unemotional.

The shy pegasus squeaked in terror and scurried off back to her cottage in a hurry with Angel Bunny on her heels.

Flamebolt sighed and grumbled to himself, following the pegasus to her home. He looked around the area and knocked on her door "Hey! I just wanted to ask a question!" he only got a silent response.

"What a waste of time!" he kicked a rock angrily. "I doubt that mare would of been any help anyways, she looked to scared and weak. Guess I'll continue my search for Rainbow Dash somewhere else..." he flapped his wings and took off once more, heading back towards Ponyville.

* * *

Back in Ponyville, Pinkie and Spike were looking all around town for the rainbow maned pegasus. They searched high and low, in every nook and cranny of town, but came up empty hooved/clawed.

"Did you have any luck Pinkie?" Spike asked, turning to the pink mare.

"Nope!" she bounced over to the baby dragon, back to her old cheery attitude. "Don't know where she could be and we've looked everywhere!" she flared her hooves before dropping onto her back in exhaustion.

A shadow loomed over her and a familiar face looked down at the mare. "What in tarnation are you two doing?" The shadow asked.

Pinkie hopped up to her hooves and hugged the mare. "Applejack!" her gaze looked over behind the farm ponies shoulder to see the last friend of their group. "Rarity!" she called out to the mare.

Applejack is country spoken orange earth pony but as strong as an ox, maybe even five boxes. She's always seen wearing her trusty cowboy hat. She's the bearer of the Element of Honesty and is always working hard for her family at their famous apple farm. Next to her was Rarity, a white unicorn with a well brushed mane and tail. Her passion of make beautiful dresses reached many heights in the fashion world. As the bearer of the Element of Generosity, she shows sympathy to all and is willing to help make anypony beautiful when they need it, even though she hates anything dirty or repulsive.

Spike looked at Rarity in a daze, floating off of the ground and levitating toward her slowly with hearts in his eyes. "What are two doing?" Rarity asked as she pushed Spike back to the ground.

"Spike and I are looking for Rainbow Dash, you haven't seen her have you?" she asked, getting right in Applejack's face.

The farm pony pushed her back gently so she had some space. "Nope, why are ya'll lookin for her?" she questioned.

"Oh, well we met this new pony today and he was looking for Rainbow Dash, but he's not very friendly and he's very grumpy, but he's going to be my friend I can feel it!" Pinkie exclaimed with confidence. "We told him we'd help him look for her, but so far nothing."

"A new pony? Looking for Rainbow Dash?" Rarity asked.

The baby dragon snapped out of his trance and planted his feet on the ground. "He's a real jerk alright, yelled right at Pinkie and then took off".

Pinkie frowned for a second and nodded but she perked back up.

"What does he look like? Maybe we can help" the farm pony offered.

"He has a blue coat and he's bigger and broader than your average stallion. He also had a wild and bright red and yellow mane, like fire." Pinkie Pie reported, like she studied his whole body somehow in such a short time around him.

Applejack and Rarity exchanged a glance, unsure how she was able to identify all that before turning their attention back to their pink maned friend. "Shouldn't Twilight be here? Maybe she would know where Rainbow Dash is" Rarity asked.

"Twilight didn't know either." Spike answered.

"Besides, she went after that pony" the pink mare informed them.

"I suppose we should go find Rainbow Dash ourselves then, after all, we can cover more ground now that we're all together" Rarity reminded them. All in agreement, the four went in search of their rainbow maned friend.

* * *

Back over near the Everfree Forest, Twilight was searching for Flamebolt in the air. "Where could he have gone?" she asked herself, scanning the ground and the skies. She spotted Fluttershy's cottage and descended toward it, landing elegantly. She noticed a small crater by the cottage and shook it off. She hustled to the front door of the cottage to check on Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy?" she knocked on the door, but there was no reply. "It's Twilight" she tried knocking again.

The door creaked open, only to see the shy mares eye from the other side. "Tw-Twilight?" she was shaking slightly, still scared from the previous events. "I-is that s-scary pony g-gone?" she asked, her eyes flicking around frantically.

The alicorn eyed her friend, tilting her head curiously. "What scary pony?"

"I-it was tall and h-had a s-scary look in its eyes" Fluttershy whimpered.

Twilight thought about it for a moment before realizing who it was. "Do you know where he went?" she asked.

"I-I ran away before h-he could say anything" she apologized, opening the door some more once she got more comfortable.

"It's alright, the pony is gone. He probably went back to searching for Rainbow Dash instead," she looked back to the sky. "I'll need to continue looking for her, who knows what the stallion wants with her."

"Rainbow Dash? He's after her?" her door swung open with the look concern for the pegasus mare.

"I don't know, all I know is that he's been searching for her. Maybe you can help us find her" Twilight asked while putting a gentle hoof on her shoulder.

Fluttershy nodded slightly, getting confirmation from Angel Bunny to go and help the in search. "I'll do what I can" she promised.

"Great, let's go!" she grabbed the shy pegasus and the two took off to the skies.

* * *

Meanwhile on the other side of Ponyville, Flamebolt continued his search but was turning up empty hooved. "Gah! This is impossible, I haven't had any luck finding her!" he zipped around a little longer before stopping in another section of town, searching the ground quickly.

"Where could she even be?!" he sighed and looked to settle somewhere to rest. He noticed a good sized cloud to relax and take a break and landed on it. He decided to rest a bit since he wasn't getting anywhere with the searching.

The fluffy cloud greeted him, a warm ray of sun streaming down upon the fluffy white cloud, helping calm him and feeling pretty soothing for his body. "Now this is what I'm talking about, clouds like these are perfect for a day like this," he shifted around to get comfortable and folded his hooves behind his head, closing his eyes.

"You said it!" a voice rang out, catching him by surprise, breaking him out of his comfort and back on his hooves.

"Who's there?" he asked while looking around, but didn't seen anypony else around.

"Try looking down!" the voice called out, turning his attention to below him where he saw a pegasus resting on another cloud below his.

Flamebolt blinked, wondering how he missed that second cloud. "Who are you?" he asked.

The pegasus stood on the cloud, wings extended and flew to the level of his cloud, fluttering before him.

"The names Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in all of Equestria!" she exclaimed. "Nice to meet ya!"


	4. Chapter 4- The Sonic Rainbow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a heated one sided conversation from Flamebolt to Pinkie Pie , he decided to look for Rainbow Dash on his own and shot into the sky leaving Twilight, Spike and Pinkie Pie in the dust. Twilight decided to follow after him and left Spike and Pinkie in charge of searching for Rainbow Dash. The two continued their search and ran into Applejack and Rarity, upon telling them the situation they agreed to also help with the search.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you are wondering at this point how these chapters are being posted so quickly its because I've had them posted on other fanfiction sites and am reposting them on here. I am still working on more chapters so look forward to them when they come!

The four decided to split up and searched more ground for their rainbow maned friend but sadly, there didn't seem to be any sign of her anywhere. With no luck they decided to regroup at the center of town.

"Y'all have any luck?" asked Applejack.

The mares and Spike shook their heads no in response.

"Seems like she hasn't been in town at all today." Spike sighed, feeling like the search was hopeless.

Everypony else followed suit and sighed, but suddenly a voice echoed from the sky, breaking them out of their slump. "Spike! Girls!"

They all looked up to see Twilight and Fluttershy descending from the sky.

"Twilight! Fluttershy!" They all shouted in joy from seeing their other friends.

The alicorn and pegasus landed in front of the group. "Applejack, Rarity I'm glad to see you both. Did Spike and Pinkie tell you about our situation?" Twilight asked.

The two mares nodded in unison.

"It seems Fluttershy is also aware of what is going on," Rarity pointed out.

Twilight nodded, "She actually met our hot headed pegasus."

"H-he was very scary." Fluttershy replied, still showing a bit a fear from her earlier encounter.

Spike clenched his fist in anger. "That guy is out of line. First he almost makes Pinkie cry, now he's scaring Fluttershy. He needs to be taught a lesson!" Spike pretended to be rolling his sleeves up.

Applejack lightly patted Spike on the head."Easy there partner, I get he sounds like a jerk and all but we still need to find Rainbow Dash. But I promise I ain't gonna let him off easy when I meet the stallion."

Spike calmed down but still didn't like what Flamebolt was doing to his friends.

"We have to keep looking for them, I don't want there to be any hostility between the two," said Twilight.

Suddenly a gust of wind picked up, blowing all the mares manes back and causing Spike to fall on his behind.

"Where the heck did that crazy wind come from?" Spike asked while getting back on his feet.

Pinkie looked to the sky up and had a bright smile on her face. "Look! It's Rainbow Dash! And she's with the other pegasus too!" Pinkie shouted with joy as she pointed to the two Pegasus flying away from the group and back towards the center of Ponyville.

"Well let's high tail over there then!" Applejack announce and took off after the two with everypony else following her.

* * *

**(Earlier with Rainbow Dash and Flamebolt)**

Flamebolt had just heard Rainbow Dash's name and stood on the cloud in shock. "What did you say your name was?" He asked to be sure he didn't hear the pegasus wrong.

"I said...I'm Rainbow Dash! Nice to meet ya!" She repeated with a grin as she continued to flutter over him.

Flamebolt's shocked face changed to a smirk and began laughing. "hehe ...finally...I finally found you!"

Rainbow had a puzzled look on her face. "You've been looking for me? What for?"

"I've been searching for a long time now...searching for somepony to push me to the limit! Somepony to give me the challenge I've been looking for! And finally after all this effort looking, I finally meet you! The one who pulled off the Legendary Sonic Rainboom!" Flamebolt shouted with determination while pointing at her.

"Oh you heard about that?" She grinned, "Yeah it was me, I'm the only pony to ever pull it off."

"Is that so…Well I want to see this legend for myself," he took a deep breath. "Rainbow Dash, I want a race!" He declared with determination in his eyes.

"You want to race me? The fastest flier in Equestria?" she bragged, "I don't think that will be much of a race if you went up against me."

Flamebolt could tell she had an ego but he knew how to push her into a race."Oh I see, miss big shot acts all high and mighty just because she does a Rainboom. But when somepony wants to race, you coware like a chicken because you don't want to lose your big title. "

Rainbow's eye twitched. "What did you call me?" she let out a low growl.

Flamebolt's smirk grew, knowing he hit a nerve. "Oh I just called you a chicken. What? You don't like being called that...chicken."

Rainbow's face grew a little red and her teeth were clenched a bit.

' _Just a little bit more.'_ Flamebolt stuck his hooves under his armpits and flapped them like wings. He shifted his head forwards and backwards in unison with his body and imitated a chicken noise.

Rainbow exploded in anger. "Fine! You want a race hot-shot?! I'll give you one!" She narrowed her eyes at him and inched closer to him, smacking him in the chest with her hoof. "Don't come crying to me when you lose."

Flamebolt only grinned, not phased by the smack and knocking her hoof out of the way. "Good...where we doing this at?"

Rainbow pointed her hoof to Ponyville. "We start at the center of town and fly to the farthest mountain over there." She pointed to a giant mountain that was quite a ways away from town.

"Oh so a speed race then," he pointed out.

"You want to see how fast I am right? Then put your money where your mouth is, follow me." She took off, not giving him a chance to get ready.

"Somepony got up on the wrong side of the bed." He couldn't help but laugh a bit at her outburst. "Oh well, it's time to get serious and own this mare." Flamebolt took off after her, he still had her in his sights.

Flamebolt got close enough behind her to continue following her. He turned his attention towards Rainbow Dash, who was focused on getting to Ponyville. ' _This is weird...I feel like I've met her before…but where?'_ He thought for a minute. Before shaking the feeling off. ' _Forget it, right now I need to focus and be ready for this race. I may of been joking around earlier but I don't plan on taking her lightly. I will beat her and get closer to my goal.'_

The two flew swiftly through the air to the center of town and caught the attention of not just Twilight and the group but also the residents of Ponyville as well. They landed elegantly in the center, next to a water fountain and the residents were whispering in awe at seeing Rainbow Dash in her glory.

"Looks like somepony is popular around here," Flamebolt said nonchalantly, not really caring what others were saying about her.

"Comes with being awesome," she bragged.

"Careful now, that ego of yours will come bite you in the flank if you're not careful," he warned her with a grin.

"Oh please, if you think you're going to win then you got another thing coming," she equaled his grin with her own.

He rolled his eyes, "We doing this or what?"

"Somepony is ready to lose," she gave him a smug look.

"Don't take me so lightly. Just cause you pulled off the Sonic Rainboom doesn't mean you can't be beat." He narrowed his gaze, getting in her face.

She also narrowed her gaze and got into his face, "Better not disappoint me."

Their foreheads made contact as the competitors stared each other down. Both wanting to wipe the floor with one another. Tensions were high and everypony could feel the intense vibe the pegasus where throwing out. None of the ponies around knew exactly what was going on and stayed away from the two.

"Then let's do this already!" he growled.

"Fine!" she growled back.

They broke away from their staredown and got into starting stances. With determined eyes they focused on the path in front of them to the mountains.

In unison they started counting down like their brains were in sync, "3…2…1…Go!"

They exploded from the ground and with tremendous force were already zooming through the sky. Ponyville was already becoming smaller and smaller with every passing second.

* * *

**(Back with Twilight and the group)**

Twilight and her friends were rushing to get to Ponyville. When they saw Rainbow and Flamebolt fly over them, they knew that all the searching was finally over but also needed to quickly catch up, not knowing what the two pegasus were up to.

"C'mon y'all we gotta catch up to them!" Applejack shouted while leading the pack.

Spike was barely keeping up with them since his tiny legs required twice the amount of effort just to go the same speed as ponies.

"Can we...slow...down..." Spike manage to say while trying to gasp for air.

"Sorry Spike but there's no time to lose," Twilight said as she lifted Spike up with her magic and placed him on her back, making it easier for him.

Spike finally started catching his breath,"Do you think Rainbow Dash will be alright around that guy?"

"Oh Spike, she can handle herself just fine. Let's just hurry and find them," Twilight assured him.

The group passed by a few familiar buildings, Sugarcube Corner, the Day Spa and the Ponyville Cafe, before turning a corner and reaching town hall which was the center building of Ponyville. They searched the area, trying to get a hint of where the two pegasus went.

Pinkie Pie turned to the fountain, she instantly smiled and pointed in the direction.,"Look! Look! I found them! Over there!"

Everypony looked to where Pinkie was pointing and sure enough, there was Rainbow Dash and Flamebolt riling each other up.

"It looks like they're arguing about something..." said Fluttershy, still scared of the stallion from her earlier encounter.

The group hustled closer to the two and noticed they weren't arguing anymore but were facing towards the mountains. As soon as they were about to reach the two, sounds of a countdown could be heard.

"Rainbow Da-!" Before her name could be said, the two pegasus took off towards the mountains.

"We just missed them…" Spike snapped his finger in frustration.

They all sighed as they were finally able to find their friend only for her to leave them behind again.

"What in tarnation are those two up to?" Applejack asked, squinting her eyes to try and keep them in her view.

"It looks like they're racing," said Fluttershy.

Spike got off of Twilight's back, "That's why he wanted to find Rainbow Dash? Just so he could race her?!" Spike was obviously upset with the reason. "We go through all this just so that jerk could get a race."

"Oh Spikey wikey, please don't make that face. You're so much cuter when you're smiling." Rarity noted trying to keep the little dragon happy.

"Well it looks like we can't do anything else now except wait for them to get back," said Twilight.

Everypony was in agreement and then suddenly Pinkie was dressed as a cheerleader, "Go Rainbow Dash! You can do it!"

The group was used to Pinkie's randomness so they just joined in and cheered for Rainbow Dash.

* * *

**(Back with our competitors)**

The two pegasus were flying at very high speed. At first Rainbow Dash thought this race was going to be easy but was surprised to see Flamebolt was keeping up next to her. She was still holding back but could tell he was too. ' _Not bad. For a stallion this guy is pretty good.'_ She grinned. ' _This race might actually get good.'_ She picked up her pace and sped farther ahead of him.

Reaching about halfway between Ponyville and the mountains now, Flamebolt could see her getting farther away from him. ' _She's toying with me…'_ He frowned. ' _I'm not gonna let her mess with me.'_ He pushed his wings harder in rhythm to speed up to the point of finally passing by her.

Rainbow Dash was a little surprised to see him in front of her but only grinned and caught up to him. "I hope that's not all you have to show me, I'm hardly breaking a sweat here," she zoomed past him to take back her lead.

"You haven't seen nothing yet." He pushed himself harder to equal her speed and was by her side once again.

The two continued their race and seemed to be equal at the moment. As they continued getting closer and closer to reaching the mountain there speed would continue to increase to the point their signature speed trails were becoming visible. Rainbow Dash's famous rainbow trail appeared and Flamebolt's flame trail with electric sparks did as well.

She managed to pull ahead of Flamebolt before looping around the mountain with ease. With the quick loop she passed by Flamebolt before he looped around the mountain, gaining a huge lead.

Flamebolt saw her pass by him and needed to quickly catch up to her. Before he reached the looping point he noticed a bundle of clouds passing behind the mountains and had a confident smile on his face. "Perfect timing, get ready for my specialty Rainbow Dash." As he passed by the mountain he charged straight into the clouds, before making impact he somersaulted and let his legs go into the clouds first.

Usually when a pegasus makes contact with a cloud they bust through it at high speed and force but with Flamebolt, the cloud seemed to suck in his body and absorb the blow before reexpanding and shooting him back in the opposite direction like an airborne trampoline. His speed seemed to increase by tenfold as he shot passed the mountain and towards Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash was on her way back to Ponyville thinking she had already won the race. "Well that wasn't much of a race. I was hoping to go all out but it looks like he couldn't keep up. Guess he was all talk."

Her feeling of disappointment soon end when a ball of fire zoomed passed her. She lost control for a second before looking forward to see Flamebolt flying at incredible speed, gaining a huge lead on her and almost reaching Ponyville.

Her face was actually shocked seeing what just happened. She had to shake it off and focus. "Now that's what I like to see! If I'm going to catch up to him, I'll need to give him what he wants and that's a good old Sonic Rainboom!"

She shot high into the sky to get a more dynamic trajectory for the Rainboom and when she felt she was high enough she dropped down at a sharp angle towards Ponyville. Her speed was picking up immensely as she felt the force of wind trying to push her back, but she continued pushing through that force and a barrier of white light started surrounding her.

Below, Flamebolt was still in hot pursuit of finishing the race. Soon Ponyville was coming into view and he could see all the residents of Ponyville surrounding the center of town. A mysterious checkered black and white finish line was present by the fountain and a giant banner saying finish line hung over the line.

"So much for being the fastest flier in all of Equestria. Didn't even get to see the Sonic Rainboom. I knew it was just a hoax." He was disappointed but had to finish the race. He saw the finish line in front of him as he was getting closer to town.

In town, Twilight and the group waited for Rainbow Dash to be the first one back and Pie even set up the whole banner and finish just so the race seemed more legit. But to theirs and the whole town's surprise, it wasn't her they saw but Flamebolt, alone.

"No way! Rainbow Dash is about to lose?" Spike asked in shock.

"Never thought I see the day Rainbow Dash would lose in the sky," Applejack responded.

"But where could Rainbow Dash be?" Rarity asked while scanning the sky.

Everypony was looking for her but Pinkie was the first to point her out in her uniform, "Oh there she is! She's way up there!"

The others looked above Flamebolt and there she was coming down like a meteor ready to crash into the earth. Her speed was picking up tremendously as she was about to pass him. Everypony knew what she was about to do.

" _Gasp!_ She's going to do the Sonic Rainboom!" Fluttershy squealed out.

Every pony in town cheered her on as she was getting closer to Flamebolt.

Flamebolt could hear the cheers from the town but wasn't really feeling like celebrating since he wanted a better challenge. He didn't notice Rainbow coming down at him until he heard the whistling sounds from her speed. He looked around trying to pinpoint the noise but was too late to react when she appeared in front of him. The next thing he saw was an explosion and a flash of rainbows in a ring hit him and she was gone. The force of the rainbow explosion knocked him off his course for a moment. He spiraled out of control and was close to hitting the ground but got his trajectory right to avoid the ground and get back into the sky. It took a second for him to comprehend what happened until he looked up to where he was and saw the after effect of the Rainboom.

His eyes were almost sparkling, "The Sonic Rainboom…it's real…" Flamebolt fluttered there, mesmerized by it.

He looked at the Rainbow ring for a while until he realized that he was still in a race. He followed the huge rainbow trail towards Ponyville and saw Rainbow Dash had landed in the center. "Oh right...I lost…." he dropped his head and glided his way to town.

In Ponyville, everypony saw the Rainboom happen and Rainbow entered town. She landed in front of her friends, catching her breath and sweating a bit from pushing her a bit too hard. The whole town was cheering for her victory. All her friends surrounded her and hugged her.

"You did it sugarcube!" Applejack cheered.

"Oh I knew you could do it darling," Rarity added.

The others agreed and suddenly Pinkie appeared and gave Rainbow the biggest hug.

"You won! You won Rainbow Dash! Oh this calls for a celebration! A big party for winning the race! With cupcakes! Cookies! And so many yummy treats!" She shouted with joy.

"Thanks everypony but I knew I was gonna win," Rainbow said while catching her breath.

"Oh really now? Cause if you didn't use your Sonic Rainboom he looked like he was gonna win, questioned Twilight.

Rainbow awkwardly chuckled with sweat dripping from her forehead, "W-well I was just going easy on him until the end. Yeah that's it hehe…"

They all stared at her closely, not believing what she was saying.

All the staring got to her, "Okay! Okay! He was better than I thought!...He's got a lot of potential to be a great flier..." she admitted.

They smiled knowing that she was being more truthful.

"Oh oh oh! We should invite him to our party!" Pinkie shouted.

"After what he did to you still want him to come?" Spike asked in shock.

"Of course silly! He's going to be our newest friend!" she replied with a sparkling smile.

"You are something else Pinkie…" said Spike.

"Speaking of...here he comes now," said Twilight.

Everypony was looking towards where she was looking at and sure enough, Flamebolt descended and landed right on the finish line, his head was dropped and his mane was hiding his face.

"That fella looks like he's taking the loss pretty hard..." Applejack pointed out.

"M-maybe we can cheer him up," said Fluttershy.

The others were surprised at Fluttershy since Flamebolt was the one she was scared of but agreed. Before anypony else took action, Rainbow was the first to trot past everypony and up to him. "Hey don't feel bad now. You're one of the few to ever push me to use the Rainboom. You should be proud of that." She then smiled hoping that could cheer him up.

But he said nothing and remained silent while the others caught up to them and stood by Rainbow's side.

"He's really letting a simple loss get to him…" Rarity whispered to Twilight.

The others felt bad he wasn't saying anything, but suddenly they heard sounds of chuckling and saw it was coming from Flamebolt. The chuckles started getting louder and transitioned into bursts of laughter which left everypony very confused.

"I think he might have lost it," said Spike, a little bit afraid of what might happen.

Pinkie joined in with the laughing as well, "What are we laughing about?"

Flamebolt got control of his laughter which caused Pinkie to stop, "Hehe…You're the real deal Rainbow Dash. Guess the legends were true, I finally got to see the Sonic Rainboom with my own eyes."

"So…you're okay that you lost?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm more than okay…in fact I'm excited. Finally, a pony that makes me want to train even harder than ever," he had a huge grin on his face.

"Is that so?" she sighed in relief and matched his grin, "Well it's gonna take a lot to beat me."

"Just you wait, next time will be different," said Flamebolt.

"Well I'll be waiting for a rematch. You know where to find me," Rainbow replied.

He turned away from the group, "Yeah, yeah, just don't get sloppy the next time we meet."

She couldn't help but chuckle, "You sure are confident in yourself, I like that! What's your name?" .

"It's Flamebolt. Better not forget it now," he answered.

"Flamebolt, that's a pretty cool name. I look forward to racing you again," she replied.

He smirked, "Same to you…see ya."

He was about to take off but Pinkie appeared in his face. "Wait! Aren't you gonna stay for the party?" she smiled as she got closer to his face.

"Party? Why would I want to go to something like that?" he asked while moving her face away from him.

"Because you're our newest friend and we need to celebrate it that awesome race!" Pinkie answered.

Flamebolt's blood was starting to boil as he began to clench his teeth. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down, but his face still showed anger, "Don't get any ideas now…I am not your friend and I never will be…"

Everypony could she his anger and was wondering why he was getting so angry.

"Why don't you want to be friends with us?" Applejack asked.

"Flamebolt…Everypony needs a friend, especially you. Friendship creates bonds that last a help you through tough times and you can always rely on them, " Twilight smiled while looking at every pony around her, remembering everything she went through with them.

"Yeah! I may be awesome but I feel more awesome having friends!" Rainbow added.

The six mares and Spike looked at each other with happiness feeling that their bonds were strong with each other.

Seeing all this was causing Flamebolt to lose his temper as his rage build more and more, "I don't need to hear what friendship is like from you," he pointed with force at Rainbow Dash and then pointed at Twilight, "Or the Princess of ' _Friendship'"_ he quoted. "Friendship is nothing but a lie! All you get is pain and suffering! These bonds you say can be shattered just as fast as they are built! All I need in life is myself and that's it!" he growled and glared at them.

"Why would you say that…" Twilight said before being interrupted by Flamebolt.

"Enough with this ridiculous discussion! I'm done here! No more talk of this or else I'm really gonna explode…I'm outta here." He blasted into the sky before they could say anything and was already out of site.

Everypony was surprised to see that outburst from Flamebolt. Fluttershy was extremely terrified and frozen in place.

"Jeez, after that race he still has all that energy to yell and fly away...He's got a lot of issues," said Spike.

"Well I never, that was quite rude of the stallion to yell at a lady like that," Rarity huffed.

Rainbow looked in the direction where Flamebolt flew off to, a little bit angry after respecting the guy, "That guy better apologize if he wants a rematch next time."

"Easy now everypony, obviously something happened to make him think like that. When he comes back, we'll hear him out and be there to help show him the true meaning of friendship," said Twilight.

The Elements of Harmony looked to the sky along with Spike, knowing that they had a new problem to solve but would be ready for when Flamebolt returns.

* * *

**(With Flamebolt)**

He was flying high into the sky, away from Ponyville but his anger still showed on his face, "I will never trust anypony as my friend…..never...ever...again." He closed his eyes and a memory popped into his head but quickly ignored it. He needed to get away from everypony and wanted to be alone. He knew that there was a perfect place where no pony would ever go to and that place was the Everfree Forest.


	5. Chapter 5- Everfree Venture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flamebolt had finally found Rainbow Dash and challenged her to a race. At first it seemed like he was gonna win but Rainbow Dash pulled out her specialty and beat him with a Sonic Rainbow. After the race the Mane six tried to offer their friendship to Flamebolt but he refused and left Ponyville. He decided the best place to train and be alone was in The Everfree Forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before this chapter starts I want to let you all know that I am aware of everything that has happened in the show. This is set to be inbetween season 5 and 6, and the story will come off differently than the show. I will mention some moments that did happen in the show but the way the story will move forward is different than originally shown. 
> 
> Enjoy!

It has been over a week since the race between Flamebolt and Rainbow Dash. The ponies of Ponyville, who witnessed the race, wouldn't stop talking about how amazing the two pegasus were. There were many others who weren't lucky enough to see the event due to being busy with their jobs or just not being at the right place at the right time. But those that did see it were nice enough to share their views of the race, even mentioning that they got to witness the Sonic Rainboom with their own eyes. Everypony knew how great Rainbow Dash was and they've already knew about all the accomplishments she made. No pony really said much about Flamebolt, they got to see how fast he was but besides that the only stories told were about his wild looks and aggressive attitude towards others but he quickly left town after the race so it was hard to say much about the mysterious stallion.

Since their encounter with the hot-headed stallion, the Elements of Harmony decided to go back to their daily no friendship problems to fix at the moment it was best to just continue to live day by day until something new were to happen. Pinkie Pie still makes sweets at Sugarcube and still keeps that happy go-lucky attitude that everypony loves and is always looking to throw a great party on any occasion. Applejack continued her usual routine at the farm, helping her family make great apple flavored treats and beverages for all to enjoy. Fluttershy stayed by her cottage and took care of the animals like usual but would sometimes come to town whenever she needed supplies. Rarity continued to make amazing dresses at her boutique and find inspiration on a new fashion trend. Twilight decided to write a letter to Princess Celestia and give her the details about the events that had occurred with Flamebolt. She knew the task wasn't going to be easy but she promised to help him when he comes back. Since it would take some time to get a response from Celestia she decided to go back to her studies. Spike continued to help as her assistant but would mention to Twilight now and then that they would be better off not helping Flamebolt. He didn't like the way Flamebolt acted and would rather not see that stallion again. As for our winning competitor Rainbow Dash, she wouldn't mind seeing the stallion again. It has been awhile since she had some competition like that and is always up for a rematch. She decided to go back to Cloudsdale for a bit and train with the Wonderbolts since she was their reserve.

In one area of Ponyville, a schoolhouse filled with little fillies and colts would continue to spread gossip about the race like it was the biggest news to ever hit the town. Many of the little ones would add their own twists to the stories to make it sound really interesting. Unfortunately, none of them were close to being accurate since they never saw it happen and are only going off of bits and pieces of what they heard.

The bell rang indicating that school was finished for the day and everypony ran out the doors in joy. It was the last day of learning for the week and they were excited to enjoy a few days away from school for some fun. As everypony was leaving, three fillies stuck together and waited for all their classmates to leave so they could come out last with no hassle.

These three fillies were consisted of a small bright yellow earth pony with a red mane and tail, a white unicorn with a purple and pink colored mane and tail, and an orangish pegasus with a more faded purple mane and tail.

The earth pony was Applebloom, who is the younger sister of Applejack. She helps Applejack and her family constantly at the farm but also makes time to go to school and learn. The unicorn was Sweetie Belle, who is the younger sister of Rarity. She like her sister, enjoys making costumes and props for her friends and has a natural singing voice. And finally we have Scootaloo, the pegasus with great skills on her scooter. Although her wings are tiny and see has trouble flying, she makes up for it on her two wheeled ride. She doesn't have a blood related sister like the other two fillies but she considers Rainbow Dash to be her big sister and also idolizes her.

Together these three formed a small group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Since they have yet to find their cutie marks, they have created this group and sworn to each other that they will find their cutie marks together. They are always trying new activities and coming up with ways to earn their marks. And today is no different as they walked away from school, wondering what talents to try next.

"Alright Crusaders, what are we gonna try today to earn our cutie marks?" asked Applebloom, leading the group.

They all thought for a moment, tapping their muzzles to try and come up with an idea on what to do next. Sweetie Belle was the first to chip in her idea, "Oh! Let's try treasure hunting!"

"Or kayaking!" Scootaloo added to the list.

Applebloom liked both the ideas but wasn't sure what to choose so she took the middle route, "Why don't we do both!"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo agreed in unison and were excited to get started with their plans. But before anything could be said and done, Applebloom realized something, "Shoot! I just remembered that I promised to help Zecora make some potions today." She was disappointed in herself for not remembering this and telling her friends sooner, "I'm sorry gals..."

Sweetie Belle placed a hoof on her back for comfort, "Don't worry about it Applebloom!"

Scootaloo stood by her other side, "Yeah! We can help you out!"

Applebloom smiled from the support from her friends, "Thanks girls, but ya don't have to do that."

"Well it's not like we have anything else to do," Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, "Rarity is busy as usual with her boutique."

"And Rainbow Dash is with the Wonderbolts, besides this could be a great chance to try and get cutie marks in potion making!" Scootaloo added.

"Hey you're right!" Applebloom's smile brightened, "Then it's settled! Let's go help Zecora and get our cutie marks!"

The three raised there hooves into the air and cheered together. Applebloom told them that she was to meet Zecora by town hall, where Rainbow Dash and Flamebolt started the race, and they would walk together to her hut. On the way through town, they could still hear ponies talking about the race and decided to join in on the topic.

"I can't believe I missed Rainbow Dash's race! She even did her Sonic Rainboom!" Scootaloo flailed her hooves into the air before dropping them and pouted, "Why did it have to happen during school."

"Well there's nothing we can do about that," Sweetie Belle stated, then she decided to change the subject. "Did you hear about the pony she went up against?"

"Yeah a feller named Flamebolt, Applejack told me he was one angry pony. Even yelled at Pinkie Pie, and that he's stubborn like a mule," Applebloom listed.

"Rarity said something similar, he's obviously not a likeable pony," Sweetie Belle mentioned.

"Well no pony has seen him since that day. Where do ya think he went?" Applebloom questioned.

"Beats me," Scootaloo shrugged, " Besides who cares, he's probably long gone by now. Let's focus on getting our cutie marks!" Scootaloo cheered.

"You're right, let's get moving Crusaders! We should be at town hall right about now!" Applebloom shouted.

The three fillies decided to hustle so they could reach Zecora sooner. Right on cue, they saw a black and white zebra standing by the water fountain. The zebra had gold rings wrapping around their neck and also around one of their legs. The zebra also wore a pair of gold earrings in each ear.

"There she is now!" Applebloom pointed, "Hey Zecora!"

The zebra turned towards the echo of her name and saw the Crusaders coming closer to her and smiled, "Ah Applebloom it is good to see, that you have come to assist me," she commented in her usual rhyme.

Applebloom rubbed the back of her neck, "Sorry Zecora, I almost forgot about today."

"There is no reason to fret, for I have not left Ponyville yet," she replied.

Scootaloo barged into the conversation, "Zecora can we come help?"

Sweetie Belle followed suit, "We want to try and earn our cutie marks in potion making."

Zecora thought for a moment, tapping her muzzle before she looked at them and smiled, "I would be happy to have help from you three, we shall go now to the forest Everfree."

The Crusaders jumped in joy, excited to see if this was their special talent. They followed behind Zecora as she led them to her hut which resided in the Everfree Forest.

Usually the forest isn't a safe place for ponies to go because of the wildlife that inhabits the area. Many strange plants grow inside the forest and dangerous creatures lurk within, but with Zecora around the forest isn't as bad since she knows her way around and is very knowledgeable.

As they entered the forest, that warm, cozy feeling of the meadows that Ponyville brought shifted its course to a more dreary place. The green plains ended where tall , dark trees blocked out the sunlight, setting gloom and mystery to the path in front of them. The mist of the swamp beyond the woods rose and clouded their vision slightly, sending chills down all the fillies spines.

Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up, "This place never gets any less creepier..."

"It ain't so bad, with Zecora around I don't feel as scared being here," Applebloom puffed her chest out to look more brave.

"Well what about all those dangerous animals like Ursas, the manticore or even Timberwolves?" Scootaloo asked with a little concern.

"No danger will come to us here, the potion I use will drive away those that are near," She informed them.

"How can you be so sure?" Scootaloo questioned her.

Zecora revealed a pouch she was carrying and inside were a couple glass containers with green glowing liquid inside each one, "These contained a gas so horrid, even Celestia would forbid."

Knowing that Zecora was prepared made them feel safer as they continued along the path. Before they could reach her hut, they noticed a tree had fallen onto the path.

"What the hay happened here?" Applebloom asked in surprise.

Zecora got closer to the fallen tree and inspected it.

"It's probably just an old tree that fell on its own," Scootaloo suggested.

"It is impossible for a tree to fall on it's own, the truth here is clearly shown," Zecora warned as she pointed at the cause.

The Crusaders looked closely and were surprised to see the large claw marks that were left on the tree. The marks made a large enough cut for the tree to tip over and break off.

"What kind of creature d-did that?" Sweetie Belle stuttered, feeling her legs buckling underneath her.

"The tree leaves a foul smell, this makes it easy to tell," Zecora backed away from the tree. "Timberwolves have been here, that much is clear."

Scootaloo could feel herself shaking a bit, "S-so Timberwolves were here..." .

Applebloom looked around her surroundings. She changed her focus to the looming forest, checking to see if there were any other signs. She gasped upon realizing the sight she had behold, "It's not just this tree..."

The others looked in the same direction Applebloom was facing and terror appeared on their faces. There were more claw marks around them in the trees and the plants looked as if they were stomped on.

"Zecora...isn't this close to your hut? Why would they be over here?" Sweetie asked, her face showing her freight.

"The answer is pretty blunt, they were on a hunt," she responded.

"A hunt? For what?" asked Scootaloo.

"The answer is hard to know, but tracks is what I can show," She pointed to the ground to see some sets of footprints on the ground. There were paws indicating that there was more than just one wolf giving chase. The direction of the prints went farther into the forest, away from her hut.

"What should we do? Who knows if they'll come back this way," Applebloom huddled close to Zecora, she knew it wasn't safe in the forest right now.

"This day will have to wait, I must take you back to Ponyville before it's too late," Zecora responded.

The Crusaders didn't refuse and stayed close to Zecora, even though they really wanted to get their cutie marks they knew it was not worth this type of danger. She lead them back the same way they came in just to be safe. She couldn't risk them getting hurt under her supervision otherwise the Elements of Harmony may never forgive her.

They quickened their pace and could see the opening of the forest in view, but stopped when something else came into view. Two shadowy figures stood in between them and the exit, their eyes had a faint green glow and they looked towards the group and growled. The growling figures approached them and revealed them to be Timberwolves. Their bodies covered in wooden branches and twigs with leaves also added to their features. They were emanating that same awful smell that was found on the trees.

The Crusaders gathered close behind Zecora for protection. Zecora was preparing to pull out her bottles when more growling could be heard from her right side. She turned her head and saw many pairs of green eyes staring at them deep in the darkened forest.

More Timberwolves revealed themselves as they moved in closer to the four. You could feel their intent to kill was strong.

"There's too many of them,"Applebloom noted as she started trembling.

Zecora quickly pulled out two bottles and chucked them at the wolves. The bottles shattered and created a giant green smokescreen. The stench from the smoke was effective against the wolves as they snarled, their vision was disrupted from tears in their eyes and lungs burning from inhaling the smoke. Zecora pulled out pieces of cloths and wrapped them around everypony's face, to filter out the gas, "Quickly Crusaders! We must flee from these invaders."

Zecora pushed them through the green smoke and passed the two wolves that were blocking the path. Unfortunately the smoke was too effective, even against the little fillies as their eyes weld up with tears and couldn't see that well.

Scootaloo couldn't see a small rock in her way as she tripped and fell down. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle turned around to see Scootaloo on the ground, "Scootaloo hold on!" Applebloom called out as the two went back to get her.

Scootaloo looked up to see her friends come for her. She got back on all fours and tried to rush back towards them. But the sound of roaring was heard through the smoke and a Timberwolf jumped in between them. The wolf's tail smacked Scootaloo, the force blew her away from her friends. As she landed she slid across the ground towards a big ditch, which wasn't visible by the path and the bottom of the ditch was covered by branches and leaves so it was impossible to see how deep it was. She stopped right at the edge before falling down the ditch.

The Timberwolf looked back at Scootaloo before turning it's attention back at the other two. It snarled at the two, ready to attack but another bottle emerged through the smoke and shattered on the wolf's head. Another green smokescreen appeared in its face as this angered the wolf, causing it to rampage through it's blindness, smacking into trees and backing away from the two. Not knowing where it was going it backed into the ditch next to Scootaloo, without warning it tipped backwards and fell down the ditch.

As the Timberwolf fell, a small landslide impacted the edge of the ditch. Scootaloo had no time to react as the ground beneath her collapsed and she fell down the ditch as well. The only words she was able to speak at that moment were, "Woah!"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked in shock as their friend just fell with the Timberwolf. They ran to the edge to see if their friend was okay but she already disappeared through the branches. Tears welled up in their eyes as they cried her name, "Scootaloo!"

Before they could do anything else Zecora pulled them away as more Timberwolves were about to clear through the smoke. She quickly chucked them onto her back and ran towards the exit. But the fillies started pleading with her, "Zecora, we can't leave her, she needs us!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"Please Zecora!" Applebloom pleaded.

Zecora didn't say anything and finally exited the forest. The sun shined as the luscious meadow field came to view and over that meadow was Ponyville. She got as close as she could to the town before putting them down by the entrance.

"Zecora?! What are you doing?! Scootaloo needs us!" Applebloom bawled, tears still pouring down her face.

"We can't leave her! A Timberwolf is after her!" Sweetie Belle added, also showing the same sadness.

"I am truly sorry, but you don't need to worry. I will bring her back safe, just have faith," Zecora said as she quickly hustled back towards the forest to save Scootaloo, "Fight through your blues and tell your sisters the news!" she echoed before entering the forest.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom dried their tears as best as they could, "S-she's right! We gotta tell them quick," Applebloom squeaked.

"I'll tell Rarity, you get Applejack and we'll meet back at the forest," Sweetie Belle reported.

The two agreed with their plan and ran in different directions of Ponyville, to get all the help they need to save Scootaloo. As they were running only one thing was on their mind, hoping that Scootaloo was safe.

* * *

**(With Scootaloo)**

Back in the forest, Scootaloo was sliding down the ditch with the Timberwolf. They continued sliding until the wolf was the first to reach the bottom, but luck wasn't on it's side as it crashed into a tree and shattered into a pile of sticks and leaves.

She had more luck as she made it to the bottom and passed the tree the wolf hit. But she couldn't control herself as she tripped which caused her to land on her face, "Omph!" she got off the ground and stood on all four legs, "That was not an enjoyable ride," she said while dusting herself off. "Where am I? Applebloom!? Sweetie Belle!? Zecora!? Can you hear me!?" She called out but there was no response, "Great...I'm all alone."

A faint green glow came from the Timberwolf pile as the pieces started floating into the air, piece by piece were sticking together and started rebuilding the fallen wolf. Scootaloo knew she needed to go before it put itself together.

Scootaloo bolted away from the glow and didn't stop. She could feel her legs growing weak in fear but was too afraid to stop and wonder if her friends were alright. She continued running, not noticing a root sticking out of the ground in front of her as she tripped and felt some strain and pulling in her back hoof. She fell on her face again and clenched her teeth in pain, she struggled to stand because of the pain she was feeling in her hoof but was able to get up. She tried to fight through the pain to run but the best she could do was limp, trying to fight back the tears in her eyes while feeling the pain in her hoof. She heard growling which meant the Timberwolf was back together and hot on her trail. She tried to move faster but the pain was still too much for her and the next step caused her to collapse to the ground.

The Timberwolf followed her scent and saw her in it's sight. It howled as it continued it's chase, when the filly feel, it slowed down and was almost 10 yards from her. It stepped closer and closer to the wounded filly, growling at her and stretched it's claws out to prepare for a strike.

She saw it getting closer and closer as she started backing up on her flank until she hit a tree. She was cornered and had nowhere to go, terrified and all alone. Her friends were nowhere near her to help and Rainbow Dash was not there to protect her. The only thing Scootaloo could do was close her eyes and wait for the inevitable. Her life began flashing before her as she remembered all the good memories she had with the Crusaders, the Elements of Harmony, and Rainbow Dash. ' _Looks like I won't be able to get my cutie mark...Applebloom, Sweetie Belle...I'm sorry I won't be around to get mine with you both, thanks for being such great friends...Rainbow Dash, thanks for being an awesome big sister...I wish I could fly with you one day...but this is goodbye...'_ tears started falling from her face.

Time seemed to slow down as the Timberwolf jumped at her, claws stretched out and mouth wide open showing it's wooden fangs. The end of Scootaloo was drawing near, with no pony around to help her.

She waited for it all to end but before she knew it, she felt a gust of wind blowing at the back of her head. The next thing she heard was a loud bang and the sound of twigs and branches smacking into a tree. She could feel a tug as her body was wrapped around something large, lifting her into the air. Suddenly she felt pressure as her whole body was pressed up against something. It felt soft like fur but also solid like a rock, and then suddenly a force of wind pressed her farther into the object. She tried to open her eyes but the wind was too strong for her so she couldn't make what was happening and the wind was deafening her so it was hard to hear. Suddenly the sound of a deep and calming voice entered her ears, "Don't worry kid, you're safe now," after hearing the voice she could feel her exhaustion kick in from all the panic and worry for her life. She could feel a heart beat against her body as it helped calm her down, the warmth from the fur relaxed her as she drifted off to sleep.

**(1 hour later)**

Darkness filled the air, nothing could be seen but sounds could fill Scootaloo's ears with drops of water splashing, echoing in the darkness. She stirred around for a bit to ignore the noise but it was impossible since it was the only sound she could hear as she decided to wake up. The first thing she realized was that she was somewhere dark but her vision cleared and she was surrounded by rocks, "W-where am I?" she asked herself out loud as she lifted her head and scanned her surroundings, she noticed something was off as her body was lying on something soft even though she was surrounded by rocks. She looked down and was surprised to see that she was floating on a puffy white cloud.

The cloud was only floating a foot off the ground so she wasn't up very high.

She stood up to stretch out but felt something off as there was a tight squeeze feeling on her leg. She looked and noticed her leg was wrapped up in a dark cloth with sticks tied to both sides of it vertically. Surprisingly, the pain wasn't as bad as it felt earlier and she was able to put some weight on the injured leg, "Wow, that feels so much better than it did earlier...wait a second..." she tried to remember the last thing that happened, she was about to be Timberwolf food but remember the voice she heard.

Her memories came flooding back to her, she realized that somepony had saved her. She frantically looked around to see if the one who saved her was here but there was nothing. Then she noticed light reflecting off a shiny rock and could see there was an exit in view. She slowly climbed off the cloud and gently touched the ground, so as not to hurt her leg. She slowly took a few steps and could still feel a slight pain in her hoof. But since it didn't hurt as much she pushed through that small amount of pain. The light shined brighter and brighter as she limped her way out into it, the first thing she noticed was a bunch of trees. She turned around and looked to see what she exited from, it turned out to be a fair good size cave. Around the cave was just more and more trees, with no sign of being anywhere near civilization, "Great...I'm still in the forest," she sighed, hoping that she would be outside of the forest and near Ponyville so she could see her friends.

"Is that the thanks I get for saving your life?" a familiar voice rang in her ears.

She couldn't pinpoint where the voice was coming from, "Who said that?"

The voice replied to her, "Up here."

She looked up and saw a figure standing on top of the cave, she couldn't make out exactly who the figure was but it seemed to have wings and was standing on them vertically, "W-who are you?" she asked hesitantly.

The figure pushed off its wings, falling to the ground but was able to adjust itself so it could extend its wings and descend to the ground.

Scootaloo could see more clearly now that they were on the ground together and studied the strangers details. It was a male stallion with a somewhat dark shade of blue fur, a recognizable red and yellow mane and tail with crimson red eyes. There was sweat dripping down his body as he was in the middle of an exercise.

"Just a pony who was at the right place at the right time," he answered as he walked up to a rock and grabbed a dark cloak hiding in the crevice, wiping the sweat from his face.

Scootaloo looked at him and noticed the cloak was torn at the bottom. She looked at her leg and the cloth was the same color as the cloak, "Did you treat my leg?" she asked the stranger.

He looked at her in the corner of his eye without turning his head towards the little filly, "...you sprained your hoof, that makeshift splint should help keep it leveled without tearing anything..."

She smiled knowing that he was taking care of her, "Thanks for this mister, it feels alot better now."

He didn't respond to her thanks but continued his explanation, "It's not gonna heal your leg, your gonna have to stay off it if you want to make a complete recovery.."

"Wow, you seem to know a lot about this stuff," she was amazed with the knowledge see learned from him.

"It's just from personal experience...I've had plenty of injuries and had to learn how to treat them myself," he finished wiping all the sweat and dropped the cloak back on the rock.

She decided to change the subject, "So...why are you in the Everfree Forest?"

"Just training...gotta get ready for my rematch," he answered as he lay on the ground and used his wings to push himself off the ground like a pushup. He repeated the motion and continued to do many reps.

"Rematch?..." then it hit her, "Hey, you're Flamebolt right? You raced Rainbow Dash!"

He chuckled through his workout, "So ponies have been talking about that race huh? Yeah, that's me I then."

She smiled at him, "Thanks for saving me from the Timberwolf Flamebolt, I thought I was a goner..."

He stopped his workout and stood back on his hooves, "You shouldn't be out here in the first place. Don't you know how dangerous it is to be out here?" he asked while ignoring the thanks he got.

Her smiled quickly changed to a sad face, "I know...but I wasn't alone," she explained everything that happened and why she was by herself, then she looked to the ground and clenched her teeth. "Now I'm separated from my friends and they could be in danger!"

He heard her situation but only gave her a vague answer, "Then why don't you do something about it? You're a Pegasus, just fly over the forest and look for them," he didn't seem to really care.

"I-I...can't fly..." she whispered.

He raised an eyebrow, "You can't fly? How is that possible? All pegasus should be able to fly by your age."

Her body started to tense up as she was showing some anger, "Because of these!" She yelled in frustration and pointed at her tiny wings, "I've tried everything I could think of and nothing! I can't even stay off the ground for a minute..."

He could see how frustrated she was with the topic, the feelings she was showing reminded him of something in his memory, "...What about your parents? Did they try to teach you?" the tone of his voice seemed to be lower.

"I don't have any..." she quickly responded before looking away, "I never got to meet them, so I don't know what they look like, who they are...or where they are at?" tears were visible on her face as they fell to the ground.

"What about a home?" he asked as he kept his focus on the crying filly.

"*sniff*...I live in an orphanage, just outside of Ponyville..." she whispered.

He didn't say anything as he just let her talk out her emotions.

She wiped the tears, "But...I have my friends and they have always been there for me. I also have Rainbow Dash who treats me like a sister," the sad look she had slowly turned to a smile, thinking of her fond memories.

Flamebolt finally spoke up after hearing a familiar name, "so you're close to Rainbow Dash then..."

Scootaloo nodded, "She's the best sister I could ask for! And she's the fastest flier in all of Equestria!"

He started to stretch out, "She won't be for long."

"You think you can beat her? No pony has ever beaten her!" She declared, clearly a fangirl.

He couldn't help but grin to her response, "Then I'll be the first!"

"You got a lot of confidence to say that," she narrowed her gaze at him.

He chuckled, "I just don't give up."

"But what if you never beat her?" she asked.

He paused for a second before giving her an answer, "Then...I'll continue to challenge her."

"Why would you still race her if you keep losing?" she questioned his confusing logic.

"Because it excites me, whenever I face somepony better than me I strive to push myself further. No matter what happens, win or lose, I'll still train to be better than I was the day before," his determination felt inspiring.

"Wow...it must be nice to have a goal...and to fly," she sighed and frowned.

He could tell she was still upset with herself and he moved closer to her, "Here's a tip kid...if you keep telling yourself you'll never fly, then it won't come true. But if you truly want to fly, then don't ever stop believing it. Push yourself everyday to make it come true, even if you only see a small improvement, keep going and never give up."

Scootaloo looked at him in surprise, she never expected to get advice from a pony like him. "Wow...that's some advice..did you-"

Flamebolt turned away from her and quickly answered before she had a chance to ask, "Don't bother asking questions about me, I won't tell you about my life."

Her ears dropped by his response, "Sorry...I was just curious."

"Whatever, let's just get you out of here. From what you've told me, my guess is that the zebra got the other fillies to safety before coming back for you. So we should just leave the forest," he stated the situation.

She nodded and tried to take a step but could still feel some pain in her hoof, "I might slow us down..."

Flamebolt came up to her and examined her hoof, "It's not a major sprain but you'll need to stay off it still...get on my back."

Scootaloo was hesitant to do as he said, after what she heard about him from his attitude and making Pinkie sad, she wasn't sure what he would do to her. But right now he isn't acting at all like what she heard about him. She finally agreed and slowly climbed up onto his back. She felt the same softness in his fur but also how solid his body was under the fur. It was obvious he was a competitor but the muscles she felt confirmed that he was strong.

"I can't risk going through these trees, could have sharp thorns in them and we could get badly cut with infections so I'll have to find somewhere clear of branches before I can fly to Ponyville," he warned her.

She agreed and laid as flat as she could against his body, she wrapped her front hooves around his neck so she couldn't fall off.

He grabbed his cloak and wrapped it around himself and Scootaloo so she could stay on him. He slowly enter the forest, staying cautious of his surroundings and scanning the area for any signs of an exit. Minutes went by and the two stayed silent, not speaking a word to each other.

Scootaloo looked up at him, ' _He's not as bad as the others made him out to be... I wonder why he's acting like this.'_ She finally decided to speak, "You're a lot different from what the others said about you."

He didn't look back at her but answered, "What did they say about me?"

"That you were rude, arrogant, a jerk, impatient and really mean," Scootaloo listed off.

"Sounds about right..." he said without a care.

"But I don't see any of that right now, you've been taking care of me...which is really nice of you," she pointed out.

"Look kid, I am anything but nice, you were in trouble and I wasn't gonna let filly die out here...I'm not a monster, and don't go thinking I'm gonna be your friend after this is over, once I get you to town I'll come back here and train again," he answered.

"But why not? It's great having friends who are always there for you," she argued.

Flamebolt clenched his teeth in anger but made sure she didn't see it and calmed down, "I don't need friends and never will..."

"Why would you say that?" she asked in disbelief.

"You wouldn't understand...Why are we even talking about this? We need to get you home," he picked up the pace and started trotting.

"I'm just trying to make a conversation..." she pouted.

"Well stop trying to pry into my personal life," he demanded.

"Sorry..." she decided not to say anything else , bringing silence back to the two.

Flamebolt continued to search for an opening in the forest but all he could see was more trees. The branches were too thick for any pegasus to fly through and it was almost impossible to navigate through and the trees if they even tried flying. He moved further ahead while Scootaloo was still holding on to him, he passed by many strange plants and smaller creatures stared at the two walking by. While he continued his search, Scootaloo was back into her thoughts, hoping her friends were alright and that they were waiting for her in Ponyville. The snap of some branches nearby, broke her out of her thoughts. A foul smell followed suit, making the two aware of what was coming to them.

Five pairs of green eyes were staring at them within the forest, they emerged from deep within the forest. Timberwolves started popping out one by one, each just as vicious as the other as they roared at the two.

"Hold on tight!" he ordered Scootaloo as he galloped away from in the opposite direction, not taking any chances from them.

The Timberwolves followed after them, howling to call in the rest of their pack.

Flamebolt picked up his pace and turned it into a full on sprint, avoiding branches, bushes, rocks and the Timberwolves that were trying to pounce him. One charged for his left side but he quickly converted his weight into his left side and launched himself to the right, he was just able to avoid the wolves first strike. Another Timberwolf opened his mouth and prepared the bite at Flamebolt's legs. He turned his head to see the bite coming and jumped into the air to avoid the jaws and stomped down on its head to temporarily destroy the wolf's head. With one of Timberwolves disposed for the moment he had a better chance of surviving the hunt. But the others were relentless, wanting to catch the prey in their view.

One of the Timberwolves decided it was time to go for Scootaloo on his back, with its sharp claws stretched out it reached for the filly. It didn't care for its surroundings as its focus was solely on the filly in its sight.

Scootaloo held onto Flamebolt's back, her eyes closed not knowing the actions that were transpiring. She was too afraid to see the Timberwolf coming for her, so she couldn't give him any warning.

But Flamebolt was able to see the Timberwolf, he had to make a move quickly, otherwise she wasn't gonna make it out of the forest unscathed. He unfurled his wings and hovered off the ground, before the wolf could get Scootaloo he shifted his body away from the predator and flapped his right wing down and his left wing up, causing him to do a barrel roll.

The Timberwolf missed Scootaloo but its claw still made contact with Flamebolt's ribs. The claw tore through the cloth fabric and penetrated his skin, causing the stallion to clench his teeth in pain. The wolf was able to leave a fairly long mark on his body as it reached from his ribs to his hip joint, causing blood to drip from his body.

His face showed anger as he successfully completed his barrel roll, he pulled his back leg in and launched a powerful kick to the wolf. The kick not only cracked its face, but sent the wolf flying into the rest of the pack chasing the two and shattered them into pieces. This gave the ponies a chance to get away for the time being, hopefully not dealing with anymore Timberwolves.

He ignored the pain as best as he could, using his wings to hover a few feet off the ground. He decided to stick with his wings since the pain would only get worse if he tried to use his legs. His blood was dripping on the ground below him, leaving a trail for anything to follow him, including the Timberwolves.

With the Timberwolf pile, all the twigs, leaves and branches began levitating with a faint green glow around them fusing together into a massive ball. It began pulling in other debris around the area, increasing the size of the ball more and more. The ball began morphing into a Timberwolf, only the size of this wolf was much bigger than before as it kept growing and growing.

Flamebolt could feel himself growing numb in the legs with every drop of blood leaving his body. He persevered through, not giving up on getting Scootaloo to safety as he looked back to check on her, "You...alright back there?" his breathing was slowly getting heavier as he asked.

She finally opened her eyes and saw that they were still in the forest but couldn't see any Timberwolves around. Her hoof slipped off his body as she tried to turn around and fell off of him. She landed on her side and luckily avoided landing on her bad hoof, but she wondered why she slipped off of him as she looked at her hoof and was shocked to see her orange hoof was covered in the color of red. She looked up and gasped in fear as she saw the large wound on his body, "Y-you're hurt!" she quickly stood up and limped her way to him, inspecting his wound.

He landed and grunted to the pain he was feeling, his wound was more severe than he thought as his legs start to shake, "It's just a scratch, no big deal...You alright?"

She searched all over her body and failed to see any visible injuries, "No, I'm fine. But you are obviously not!" she quickly grabbed the remains of the cloth and tried to put pressure on the wound, "We need to get to the others quickly, you need medical attention immediately!"

He could feel the pain get worse as she pushed against his wound but laughed it off, "I've been through worse than this..." his vision started to get fuzzy and he started to get a little dizzy.

Guilt started eating at her as she stared at his wound, "...it's all my fault this happened to you..." tears started to well up again, "I'm just dead weight at this point..."

He started to get angry as he looked at the crying filly, "Don't ever say that!" his outburst caused her to stop her whaling and look up at him, "You want to give up and just let ponies push you around!? Don't you have any goals in life!?"

The words he spoke hit her deep as she thought about what she wanted, she remembered the promise to her friends to get their cutie marks together and to grow up and be like Rainbow Dash. She wiped away her tears and gave him as best of a determined looked as she could, "Of course I do!"

He grinned at the look she gave him, "Then we're getting outta here no matter what, you got it!"

She gave him a firm nod, "Got it!"

Soon after that, a loud roar could be heard behind them. The ground began to shake and in the distance they saw rows of trees falling over towards them. Something large was coming after them, most likely following the trail of blood Flamebolt left.

Flamebolt prepared himself for whatever was coming, "Get behind me."

She did what she was told and scooted behind him, still scared but trying to be brave for him.

The trees continued to fall one after the other as a giant pair of green eyes became visible. The creature emerged, revealing to be a giant Timberwolf. It was almost as large as a tree with it enormous body emerging from the shadows and each step it took would break a tree in half. It gave a loud, almost deafening roar that could be heard throughout the whole forest.

Flamebolt noticed that the giant Timberwolf opened up the sky by knocking all those trees over, giving him the exit he needed. He had to figure out how he was gonna get passed this enormous beast while protecting Scootaloo. His body was getting weak so he to work fast, he pulled Scootaloo and placed her on his back again.

She was surprised how quickly she got on his back but somehow her instincts told her to grab on as she wrapped around his neck, "W-what do we do?"

"I'll get us out of here, but I need you to hold on tight because I can't risk having you fall off," he ordered as he pushed himself to run away from the beast. He went back to using his wings so he could faster as he avoided the trees.

The wolf growled in anger as it chased after the two, knocking over more trees in its path and leaving nothing but destruction behind.

Flamebolt looked back to see he was being followed, he pushed his wings to fly faster. He looked at the path in front of him for anything he could use against the beast and saw some nearby vines hanging on some trees. He grabbed the nearest vine and was able to rip it from the branches, with the vine in his hooves he needed to time his plan just right.

The large Timberwolf was still a ways away from them but was slowly getting faster, shortening the distance between them.

Scootaloo looked back to see it was getting closer, "You better do something now! Cause it's catching up!"

Flamebolt put his hope into this next move as he chucked a large portion of the vine while holding on to the rest at a large branch. The vine wrapped around the branch perfectly, giving Flamebolt enough space from the branch to execute his plan, "Here we go! Don't let go no matter what!" he ordered as he wrapped around the tree each loop increased his speed as he struggled to hold onto the vine. With three quick loops he launched himself towards the beast, the amount of speed he created was almost as fast as his race with Rainbow Dash as his signature speed trail appeared behind him.

Scootaloo could feel the force pushing against her, she was close to slipping off but Flamebolt wrapped a hoof around her and pulled her into his chest.

He charged straight for the Timberwolf and threw his hoof back, ready to strike. As he got closer and closer he pushed as hard as he could to build enough force to make this an effect attack. He saw the wolf open its large mouth, ready to strike back as well.

Both sides got closer and closer, there was only going to be one winner out of this. Either the ponies escape or they become a snack, it was the moment of truth.

Flamebolt could feel his body getting weaker and weaker with each passing second, his vision was close to fading and his speed was slowing down. But deep inside something was telling to keep going, keep fighting and never stop. A warmth filled his body, giving him the strength he needed as his body faintly glowed red. His speed increased exponentially and with a final push he charged into the beast and entered its mouth.

The wolf was about to chomp down with its large jaws but felt the back of its head burst open and a large ball of fire exited its body. The wolf exploded into pieces and flew all across the forest, no sign that it was gonna put itself back together as that giant Timberwolf again.

The ball of fire zoomed through the sky, leaving behind a trail of fire with bolts of electricity surrounding it. Flamebolt emerged from the fire as he opened his eyes to notice the clear blue sky and the forest below him, he looked at his body, which lost it's glow, and noticed Scootaloo was still holding on to dear life with her eyes tightly shut. He sighed in relief and tapped the filly on the head, "You can open your eyes now scaredy-cat."

Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes, her vision was slowly coming to her as the blurry figure in front of her slowly became clear and saw Flamebolt looking down out her with his usual grin. Her eyes adjusted and looked around to see the sun shining brightly over the land, she got a great view of the forest and could see Ponyville in the distance. She noticed how high she was in the air and could feel the wind blowing against her. The feeling reminded her of all the times Rainbow Dash flew with her, she felt that happiness of getting a taste of what flying was like, "W-we made it?...WE MADE IT!" she couldn't maintain her happiness from getting out of the forest.

"Yup...we made it..." he could feel the exhaustion kick in as he started descending from the sky.

Scootaloo noticed a couple ponies were by the entrance of the forest below them, she lifted a hoof over her eyes and squinted to make out who they were. There were two earth ponies and two unicorns with a zebra, this brought a smile to her face as she knew who they were, "Over there! Land over there!" she squeaked.

He looked down and saw where she was pointing, "Alright I guess..." he could muster the strength to argue so he just descended to the group.

* * *

**(With The Crusaders)**

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were waiting for Zecora to return with Scootaloo, they told their big sisters what happened and got them to come with them to the forest.

Applejack and Rarity were informed of what was going on and agreed to help get Scootaloo back. They couldn't waste time calling the other Elements of Harmony so they just left their daily activities and followed the Crusaders to the forest.

"Please be okay..." Sweetie Belle stared into the forest, concerned with her friends safety.

Rarity stood by to comfort her sister, wrapping a hoof around her and holding her close to her body.

AppleJack did the same for her sister, waiting as patiently as she could for their return, "Gosh darn it, I'm going in there! Zecora may be in trouble as well if we do nothing!" she took a step forward before seeing Zecora emerging from the forest alone.

The Crusaders ran up to her in joy, looking around her to see if Scootaloo was behind her.

"Zecora! You found her right? She's okay?" Applebloom asked with hope in her eyes.

Zecora's face showed regret and sadness, she saw their hopeful faces before turning away and saying nothing.

The silence said it all as the Crusaders were heartbroken, they collapsed to the ground and broke down into tears. Their sisters ran up and gave them a group hug, trying to comfort the pain they all felt knowing that Scootaloo may be gone.

"Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle!" the echoing voice broke them out of their sadness as the whole group looked to the sky and were surprised to see who it was.

Flamebolt had Scootaloo in his arms while she spotted a giant smile on her face while waving at them. He gently touched the ground and placed her down for her to unite with her friends.

"SCOOTALOO!" they both shrieked as they charged at her and tackled her to the ground. With tears pouring down their faces they all cried in joy for their reunion and held each other close.

Applejack, Rarity and Zecora were happy at the reunion as they watched with small tears building in their eyes.

"We thought we would never see you again," Sweetie Belle bawled as she was squeezing the air out of Scootaloo.

"How did you make it out of there?" Applebloom questioned with disbelief.

"It was thanks to him," she pointed to Flamebolt who just stood there and watched their reunion, "If it wasn't for Flamebolt I might not have made it back here."

The Crusaders looked at him and were surprised to meet the aggressively angry stallion but didn't care, "Thank you for saving Scootaloo..." Sweetie Belle's voice trailed off.

Flamebolt's vision altered as the three fillies in front of him changed their appearances to three colts. Applebloom turned into a small brown earth pony with a black mane and tail and laughed, Sweetie Belle turned into a gray unicorn with a light blue mane and tail and was wearing the biggest smile on his face while Scootaloo turned into a familiar blue pegasus with the same colored mane and tail as him. They seemed happy and were laughing together, he could hear a voice in his head, "We'll be best friends forever! Nothing will ever bring us apart!" the voice faded away as he shut his eyes and fell to the ground, the last thing he could hear before leaving consciousness was one word, "FLAMEBOLT!"


	6. Chapter 6- The Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crusaders decided to help Zecora with potions and see if they could get their cutie marks. But the plan was thrown off course when they were attacked by a group of Timberwolves. Scootaloo was separated from the group but luckily was rescued by Flamebolt. He protected her with everything he had and managed to get her out of the forest safely an reunited her with the other crusaders but suddenly Flamebolt felt weak and collapsed in front of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I had finished and posted on all the other sites. I still have more coming but I must warn you that I do take some time before I post the next chapter. I promise that this will not be forgotten and I plan to see this story through to the end. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Darkness filled the void, the black abyss was all that could be seen. No beginning and no end to this seemingly empty place, and yet the shadows of darkness continue to reside within. The silence would drive anything crazy, but voices start echoing through the air, each seeming to speak as if it were a part of a memory.

"No matter what happens, we'll always be proud of you..."

"This will always keep us together...forever..."

"Starting today, we'll be the best of friends!..."

"Get him out of here!..."

_"Nooooo!..."_

_"Flamebolt!"_

Flamebolt's eyes opened as he quickly sat up, his breathing heavy, sweat dripping off his body. After a minute, he calmed himself down, but flinched as pain started to spread through his body. He looked down to see his leg wrapped up to his hips with bandages, and noticed he was laying in a bed. Changing his gaze from his body to his surroundings, he noticed he was in a lone room with one bed, a night stand with a lamp, a door, a window, and a couple buttons on the wall. He realized he was not in the Everfree Forest anymore, but instead in a patient room at a hospital. Thinking back to what had happened, he couldn't believe he had made it out of the forest in one piece, and was able to protect the small filly.

_'The kid!'_

He quickly pushed himself out of bed, only to fall to the ground. His body was weak and he felt dizzy from quickly moving. He forced himself onto his legs and wobbled away from the bed to the door. He had to make sure that Scootaloo was okay, since she was also hurt from their chase in the forest. As he approached the door, voices could be heard from the other side. With caution, he pressed his cheek up against the door, and used his ear to see if he could hear what was being said on the other side. At first, all he could hear was muffling, but the voices became more clear and he was able to discern words. The voices sounded familiar to him, and could hear his name being mentioned.

* * *

**(Outside the room)**

Beyond the door was a hallway branching off into different rooms, each leading to another patient's area or a medical ward. Close to Flamebolt's room was a group of the all to familiar ponies, residing of Twilight, Applejack and her sister, Apple bloom, Rarity, and her sister Sweetie Belle.

The group was talking to the doctor, a unicorn with dark brown hair, a lighter brown coat, and a lab coat with a light blue shirt and dark tie around his neck. He wore glasses that speckled against the fluorescent lighting, and had a stethoscope hanging on his neck.

"How is he, Doctor Horse?" Twilight asked, concerned.

The doctor's horn began to glow as he levitated a chart to his face and read the notes he made on the patient. "Well, aside from some minor blood loss, he'll make a full recovery as long as he rests and regains the blood."

Everypony sighed in collective relief from the good news.

"Yes, it was a good thing you brought him in when you did." He continued, "The fact that he went up against some Timberwolves by _himself_ is crazy, let alone to fend them off and make it out of the forest with only one injury!"

Sweetie Belle spoke up then, "He was protecting Scootaloo! If we hadn't gone into the forest in the first place, none of this would have happened." She looked down at the tiled floor, feeling guilty for all that had happened.

"And he and Scootaloo wouldn't be in the hospital!" Applebloom added, feeling the same guilt.

The two older sisters each comforted their siblings and tried their best to reassure them.

"Cheer up Applebloom, everypony made it out okay and that's all that matters," Applejack tried encouraging her to look at the bright side of a bad situation.

Rarity wrapped her hooves around Sweetie Belle and hugged her, not letting her go. "Oh Sweetie Belle, I know you're upset about this whole mess about dear Scootaloo, but _please_ try and cheer up."

Twilight looked back to the doctor, "Speaking of Scootaloo, how is her injury?"

"It was only a minor sprain and should heal quickly." The Doctor stated, "It was a good idea, making that splint when he did, helped keep the swelling down and kept all the joints in place. We replaced it with a brace, and she'll need to keep it on for the next few days in order for the hoof to heal properly."

"Thank you so much for your help Doc-" _slam!_ Twilight was about to thank the doctor before a loud noise came from the entrance doors.

The next thing they knew, there was panicked yelling as the sound of hoofbeats on the tile thundered towards them, " _Scootaloo!_ Where are you!?"

Everypony turned towards the sound to see a worried Rainbow Dash frantically searching for her. She noticed some of her friends were there and ran right up to Twilight.

"Twi, I got your message from Spike! Where is she? Is she okay? How bad is it?"

She kept asking question after question, not giving anypony time to answer, but Twilight placed both her hooves on Dash's shoulder.

"Calm down...She's _safe_ , and she's gonna be okay." Twilight spoke calmly to help ease her stress.

Rainbow Dash took a few deep breaths to calm down and regained her composure. Now that she wasn't as overwhelmingly freaked out, Twilight was able to explain everything that happened.

**(In Flamebolt's room)**

After overhearing the conversation, Flamebolt felt better knowing that Scootaloo was safe. He pushed away from the door and thought of the situation he was in. _'Now that that's taken care of, I'm gonna need to find a way to get out of here without anypony noticing me.'_

He looked down at his body covered in bandages. _'Since they treated me, there's no way I'm gonna be able to pay the bill for this...and if this hospital is like any of the other ones I've been in, then...'_ Before he could finish his thought he remembered the window, and moved as quickly as he could on his weak, wobbly legs, and managed to make an escape.

Looking outside, he noticed he was on the ground floor, which made it a lot easier for him to be able to slip out. He slowly opened the window and peeked his head out, scanning from his left to the right to see if there was anypony near him, but luckily he was in the clear. Lifting his body was harder than usual but with enough strength he was able to pull himself out of the window on his front legs. But in the transition back onto the ground, his legs gave in and he stumbled onto the earth. He pulled himself back onto his four legs and quickly looked around again to make sure nopony was around. He was about to push his wings to try and fly, but could hear the familiar sounding voice of a filly. He turned towards the voice and noticed a window next to the one he came out of opened slightly. He wanted to leave, but something inside him was telling him to go check it out. Going with that feeling, he pushed himself against the wall and slowly crept up to the window, crouching below the frame so as to not be seen.

* * *

**(Inside Scootaloo's room)**

The little orange filly was laying in a bed the same size as the one Flamebolt had been given, only it seemed bigger for her compared to her much smaller body. Her injured leg was lifted a little over her with a couple pillows to help keep the blood flowing through her leg.

Rainbow Dash was the first to enter the room, and quickly ran over to hug her. Then the other crusaders followed suit. Then came Twilight, and the crusader's big sisters.

Rainbow Dash voiced her concern with what happened, and tears rolled down her face as she apologized for not being there when she was needed. But Scootaloo hugged her in forgiveness and kept a smile on her face.

"It's okay sis, I'm fine now thanks to Flamebolt!"

Dash was surprised to hear that name, "You mean the guy I raced before? _He_ saved you?"

Scootaloo nodded, "Yup! He risked his life to make sure I was okay! And he fought a whole pack of Timberwolves!"

Hearing this surprised everypony, since he didn't present himself as a stallion that would do something so selfless and heroic like that, especially to a stranger.

"Well shucks, I didn't think I'd hear anythin' positive about that fella. He looked more like an angry mule than a hero." Applejack responded, with agreeing nods from everypony else.

"And with a short temper like his, I would have found it hard to believe that he would do something so noble." Rarity added with the same agreeing nods.

"I thought the same thing at first, but he was actually not that bad!" Scootaloo replied, " I mean, yeah he wasn't the nicest guy sometimes, but he really went out of his way to keep me safe. The way he handled things was _so_ cool, especially his moves when he took out those Timberwolves!" The little orange pegasus was pretty excited to talk about what he did for her. "And when they put themselves together, it was bigger than all the trees, and almost as big as an Ursa Minor!"

"An Ursa Minor!?" The crusaders shouted in surprise.

"Yeah! but he wasn't scared at all, and actually wiped the floor with it! It was so awesome! Like, as awesome as Rainbow Dash!" She added.

"As awesome as me huh? Well next time I see those Timberwolves I'll make sure they never think of messing with my little sister, _or_ my friends!" Rainbow Dash said, pounding her hooves together.

"I know you would have protected me too, and you would have been awesome doing it!" She was still her biggest fan, so she added that to show she still looked up to her role model.

"He beat a Timberwolf as big as that?" Twilight asked, thinking it seemed impossible for anypony to go up against anything that size, especially a lone Pegasus.

"Well...I don't exactly know how he did it, or what exactly he did because I was still scared, and when he charged at it, I closed my eyes cause I was scared to see what happened at that point...but when I opened my eyes we were high above the forest without a scratch...well almost without a scratch..." she dropped her face and felt the same regret she did when she first saw the injury that Flamebolt had.

"Don't worry Scootaloo, the doctor said he'll make a full recovery as long as he rests." Twilight could tell she was thinking about what happened to him, and relayed the good news to keep her spirits up.

Scootaloo felt more relieved to hear the news, but was still a little sad, but remembered all the things he said to her and stopped feeling guilty. "I want to thank him for everything he did for me."

"We will make sure he hears that, luckily you're right next door to him, so when he wakes up you'll be the first to know!" Dash replied to her.

Scootaloo nodded with the others, smiling to see that she was gonna be okay and that everything turned out alright.

On the other side of the window, Flamebolt heard everything that was said, and decided that was his que to leave before they realize he's not actually _in_ his room anymore. He was about to leave again, but his gut was telling him not to leave yet, and suddenly knocking could be heard in Scootaloo's room. He didn't know why but something in his conscience was telling him that he needed to stay put for this. So he went back to his spot and waited for what was to come.

Inside the room, the door opened and Doctor Horse entered the room. "Sorry to interrupt folks, but Scootaloo, you have another visitor here to see you."

Everypony looked to the door to see who it was that wanted to see Scootaloo. The door opened to reveal a new Pegasus that nopony else recognized. She was older than the rest of the group, wearing a worn out, once white apron. She had peach colored fur, and her mane and tail were turquoise blue with streaks of gray, frazzled and in a messy bun. Her eyes had a light tint of green with bags and wrinkles around them, showing that she was tired and probably worked more than she should at her age.

Scootaloo gasped as she knew who this new visitor was, "Granny Care-Care!"

Flamebolt's eyes went wide as he heard that name, and felt his chest tighten up. He quickly peeked inside to see exactly what was going on.

"Granny Who?" Applebloom asked, confused.

The older pony quickly moved past the group and hugged her before anypony could react. "Scootaloo, I was so worried about you!"

She returned the hug, "How did you know I was here?"

"The doctor messaged me and I got here as soon as I could. How could you not tell me what you were doing? Do you realize how scared I was to hear you were at the hospital?" She fretted.

She looked away from the older pony with regret, knowing that she shouldn't have done what she did. "I'm sorry I worried you..."

She hugged the filly again, "I'm just glad to see you are alright now, that's all that matters."

The others were confused about the relation of the two, but could see that they were close so it was okay and smiled at the site.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat to grab their attention, "Sorry to interrupt the reunion, but who exactly iare/i you? And how do you know Scootaloo?"

The two broke out of their hug, and the older pony turned her attention towards the group. "Oh, where are my manners, my name is Caring Heart, and I am Scootaloo's caretaker at the Ponyville Orphanage. But the little ones call me Granny Care-Care."

"Orphanage?" Twilight asked as she was not familiar with it. "I didn't know Ponyville had an Orphanage."

"Oh that's because we are more in the outskirts of Ponyville, so no one can really see it. But luckily it's not too far for the little ones to get to school." She explained to Twilight.

"I had no idea that there were ponies here without homes or families..." This new discovery made Twilight's heart sink.

"It's alright, Twilight! Granny Care-Care and the others have been my family for as long as I could remember! Things may not seem great but I still have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in." Scootaloo mentioned.

"We try to get by as best as we can and the little ones are always so helpful." Caring said as she patted Scootaloo on the head.

"Gosh Ms. Heart, sounds like the orphanage is a tough job. How many ponies are living there?" Rarity asked.

"Well besides me and Scootaloo...we have about 16 other ponies living there. More colts than fillies but they are all so sweet, though they can be hoove full at times." She answered with a giggle.

"Hoo boy Ms. Heart, I hope you ain't the only pony taking care of all them." Applejack replied.

"Oh of course I am, but Scootaloo and some of the older ponies have also been doing a great job watching over the rest and helping with chores." Caring answered. "While they keep them busy, I make sure to cook for them, clean them, make their beds, and make sure they go to school. But not all of them are old enough to go yet, so the rest stay with me."

"That's a lot for one pony to handle." Twilight voiced her concern.

Caring Heart couldn't help but laugh slightly, "Most ponies would say that, but it's really not that bad. I've been doing it for so long that it's become second nature for me, but I do appreciate the concern princess."

"Oh, you know who I am?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, in fact Scootaloo has told me about all of you and your adventures. Thank you so much for taking care of her." Caring bowed her head to be polite. She turned to the two fillies, "And you must be Apple bloom and Sweetie Belle of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I'm so glad she was able to make great friends like the both of you."

They both smiled, feeling happy to know that their friend talks about them at her home.

"You two are more than welcome to come by the orphanage whenever you want to see Scootaloo." She offered the two and looked to the rest of the group. "You're all welcomed as well, the little ones have always wanted to meet you all for so long since hearing all the stories from Scootaloo."

"Of course Ms. Heart, we would love to come visit the orphanage some time." Twilight said with cheer.

Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Heck ya! I'll show them my cool moves I've been working on with the Wonderbolts!"

Everypony smiled and discussed ideas with Caring Heart about what they could do for the orphanage.

Outside the window, Flamebolt had heard everything that was being said and clenched his teeth. His chest grew tighter and tighter while his stomach felt like it was falling into a continuous state of making knots. He could feel something that he hadn't felt in a long time but quickly tried to push it aside as he moved away from the wall as fast as he could and tried to gallop off and away as best as he could. With the little strength he had, he expanded his wings and pushed with all his might to try and leave the ground. Slowly, he could feel his legs starting to float. but his wings sent pain through his body, making it difficult for him to push his body.

Back inside, Scootaloo was happy to see her caretaker getting along with the others, and hearing that they'll come to the orphanage just made it even better. Taking in the view, she decided to check the scenery out the window to think. Before she was even able to enjoy it, she noticed a blue pony in the distance who seemed to be limping at high speed away from the hospital. At first she thought she was seeing things but when she saw the pony slowly fly off the ground she knew who it was, "Flamebolt!"

Scootaloo's sudden yell brought every ponies attention to her, except Caring Heart, who seemed to froze in place upon hearing that name.

Rainbow Dash was the first to respond, "Scootaloo, what the heck are you yelling about?"

Scootaloo's eyes quickly pulled away from the window and stared straight at Dash's face, "It's Flamebolt! He's flying away!"

Rainbow Dash and the others looked out the window and witnessed the struggling blue Pegasus trying to fly away.

He was surprisingly high in the sky for having just been bandaged up, but it was obvious that he was struggling to stay in the sky.

Witnessing this, Doctor Horse gasped and started shouting in the hallway, "We got a patient on the loose! An injured Pegasus is attempting to fly away! We need nurses outside immediately to catch him!"

The few nurse ponies who heard him quickly understood and took action to get outside.

"What is he thinking? Nopony should be out of bed this early after surgery! His body hasn't recovered and he's trying to fly? We need to catch him before his body shuts down and he crashes," The doctor warned.

"Leave it to me! I'll catch up to him in no time!" Dash volunteered as she galloped through the window and zoomed towards Flamebolt.

"Good luck Dash!" Applejack shouted to her before she flew off. "What in the heck is wrong with that Flamebolt? He's crazy if he thinks he can just mozzy on like that."

While everypony was watching the scene unfold out the window, Caring Heat snapped out of her frozen state and spoke up, "Did you say 'Flamebolt'?"

The group looked back to the older pony, noting the disbelief of her realisation.

"Uh yeah, he's the one who saved Scootaloo-" Applejack started but Caring quickly hustled out the door.

"G-granny Care-Care?" Scootaloo tried to ask, but she was already out the room.

The room was filled with confusion, as nopony knew at first what was going on with her.

"I'm going to check on her, you girls wait here till I get back." Twilight announced as she left the room to follow after her.

With Twilight now out of the room, the rest of the group sat and waited, while many questions started to build up in Scootaloo's head. _'What's going on Flamebolt? Why are you trying to leave? And what was up with Granny Care-Care?...D-do they know each other?'_

In the hallway, Twilight was following Caring Heart, who was moving very fast for a pony her age. "Ms. Heart, where are you going?" But unfortunately her call fell deaf in Caring's ears as she passed a few doctors and sprinted through the exit doors with Twilight in tow.

 _'It can't be...Is it really him?'_ Caring thought, as she decided to flap her wings and fly towards the comotion, with Twilight following again in the air.

* * *

**(With Flamebolt)**

Flamebolt pushed himself as hard as he could to continue to fly but the pain he was feeling made it more difficult to continue his pace. He wanted to be out of there as soon as he could and be rid of this awful feeling he had. But even with how much he trained himself, his body couldn't keep going, and he eventually lost all control of his body as his wings stopped moving and his body started falling towards the ground.

"Damn it! Not here...not now!" he tried to move anything in his body, but it was completely shut down as all he could do was just watch himself fall to the ground.

Before he had a chance to react, his body was swooped up by a flash of rainbows and seemed to be floating in one spot. He looked down to notice he was still in the air but could feel a slender set of arms carrying him.

"You just don't know how to give up, do you, hotshot?" The voice sounded a little raspy but familiar still.

He looked up to see the famous Rainbow Dash looking down at him. Upon closer inspection he noticed her eyes were of magenta color, and her rainbow colored mane had a sweet fragrance to it. He continued to stare at her for the longest time, _'This feels so familiar...almost like it happened before...'_

The train of thought was broken when she spoke up, "Hello? Uhh, you okay there Flamebolt?"

His senses came back to him as he realized he was still in her arms, looking down he saw she was carrying him like a princess which caused his face to grow red in embarrassment.

"I'm fine, just put me down already...it's embarrassing enough to be held like this."

She smirked to his response, "What's the matter? Never been carried by a mare before?"

He looked away from her in frustration, "No, I haven't, and I don't want to be seen as the damsel in distress so drop me already."

She laughed, "Okay princess, here you go." She descended to the ground and dropped him to the floor.

His body was still weak so his legs had no strength, and he ended up landing on his back with a small grunt of pain. "Thanks soooo much for the soft landing," he said sarcastically as he forced himself to stand up.

She threw her hooves in the air and shrugged her shoulders, "You said to drop you."

"Well whatever, I already wasted too much time here," He slowly limped past Dash away from the hospital.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, landing and walking next to him, "You need to go back and rest right now."

"Not a chance, no way am I sticking around. I don't trust hospitals and I'm not gonna get suckered into their schemes..." he continued to limp further along.

"What do you mean 'their schemes'?" she asked curiously.

He was about to say something but a loud shout interrupted him. _"FLAMEBOLT!"_

He froze when he heard his name being called by a voice he recognized.

Dash turned around and saw Caring Heart standing right behind them, trying to catch her breath as she seemed to have hustled here. She realised he had stopped moving, but hadn't turned around to face her.

She took a few deep breaths to collect herself before speaking, "Is...is it really you? Are you really my Flamebolt?"

He didn't speak, as he still continued to face away from her, almost like he didn't have the guts to look at her.

In the distance, Twilight was descending to the ground as she saw Caring Heart was with Rainbow Dash and Flamebolt. She landed a few feet behind Caring, and was about to call out to her, but was stopped when she continued to speak.

"Please...look at me. I need to see your face so I know I'm not crazy." Tears started to build up in her eyes as she begged. "Please, say something to me..."

Twilight and Dash were surprised to see what was unfolding in front of them. The sweet and calm Caring Heart was almost breaking down in front of them, and the stubborn and cocky Flamebolt was just standing there, frozen in place.

Dash was about to speak up but Twilight quickly trotted up to her and placed a hoof over her mouth to keep her quiet. She knew this was a moment for them and didn't want it to be interrupted.

"You don't have to tell me anything...all I ask is that you please look at me so I can know it's you..." The tears finally fell down her cheeks, holding onto the hope she had thought she lost long ago.

After a few awkward minutes of silence, Flamebolt finally turned around. Slowly but surely, his body was now facing her, but his mane covered his eyes as he looked to the ground in front of him. He finally looked up at her, pain and regret was visibly shown on his face as his chest grew tight again. He lifted a hoof behind his head and scratched his mane, feeling awkward about this situation. He swallowed a lump that was stuck in his throat and finally took the courage to speak,

"H-hey Granny Care-Care...been awhile..."


	7. Chapter 7- A Debt to Pay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and the crusaders visit Scootaloo at the hospital, Flamebolt makes an attempt to leave the hospital even though he was still in bad shape. While this was going on a new visitor by the name of Caring Heart visits Scootaloo, as it turns out, Caring is the caretaker of Scootaloo and other ponies at the Ponyville Orphanage. Scootaloo notices Flamebolt was leaving and calls out to him, Rainbow Dash, Twilight and the new visitor Caring Heart go after him. Rainbow Dash saves Flamebolt from hurting himself and Caring Heart and Twilight catch up. Caring Heart calls out to him as it seems the two have a history with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter is here! Starting to get a little better swing of things here so I hope you enjoy!

There it was; the messy yellow and red mane, the crimson red eyes and blue coat. All the traits from her memory fit the pony she once knew. Tears were rolling down her face, a feeling of relief and hope flooded through her entire body. The stallion in front of her was in fact the pony she thought she would never see again. But hearing him call her by her nickname confirmed it. Most ponies who call her by that were those she allowed to, but with him, it was different, and it felt more meaningful to hear it from him.

She stepped forward, wanting to embrace him in a loving hug. She wanted to hold him tightly and never let him go. But her hopeful reunion fell short as the stallion in front of her stepped back and looked away from her.

The look on his face showed regret, ashamed to be in front of her. He never thought he would run into her again and for it to be here of all places. This was too sudden for him and felt that he couldn't face her after everything he did. The guilt was too much for him to bear as he turned away from her.

"I gotta go..." The words Flamebolt spoke were meek and his usual stubborn and confident demeanor quickly changed to a troubled and remorsed one that no pony had seen in him thus far.

He took that first step forward but could hear the pleas from Caring telling him to stop. He tried his best to ignore them but with each step he took, a shockwave of pain shot through his entire body. But in his head he told himself this was nothing, he knew the pain that she was feeling was far worse than what he was feeling. He knew how much it was hurting her to leave right when she had just reunited with him. He couldn't handle seeing her like this or the squeezing pain in his heart. The only thing he could think to do was to run away and not look back.

Before he could make an escape, an enraged Rainbow Dash stepped in front of him , "Are you serious!? You're gonna leave when she's begging you to stay!?"

He wasn't in the mood to deal with her right now, every part of his body was screaming in pain as he tried to wobble around her with a scowl on his face, "This is none of your business Rainbow Dash."

She back stepped into his path, "I may not know what is going on between you two, but I sure as heck know you can't leave in the condition you are now!" she pressed her hoof into his face and then pointed at Caring, "Plus, she's crying and you don't seem to care how she feels!" At this point her blood was starting to boil, seeing how he was planning on leaving while Caring was a complete mess.

"Rainbow Dash that's enough!" Twilight stepped in between the two to diffuse the situation from getting any worse, "We don't have any right to barge in, this is between them and them alone."

"But Twi-!" Dash tried to reason with her but Caring stepped in.

"She's right...*sniff* I appreciate you trying to help Rainbow Dash but I can't force him to stay. He's a grown stallion and has the right to make his own choices..." she tried wiping the tears as best as she could out of her eyes, "Flamebolt...I know you don't want to hear it but please...at least stay and recover. I won't force you to talk to me and you don't have to see me at all. I just want you to be healthy and you can do whatever you want after that."

Hearing Caring say all that was a bit of a shock, after all the effort of wanting to reunite with him to just let him go. "I promise to leave you alone...seeing you in front of me now...is all I could ask for.. Now that I know you're okay...I can be at peace." She took a deep breath and stepped closer to him so he could hear her more clearly, "Just please...go back to the hospital and rest."

Twilight and Dash looked back and forth between the two to see how this would play out. They could see that Caring was being genuine, but Flamebolt just seemed to be standing there, silently staring at the ground in front of him.

In the distance, the sound of hooves clicking were growing louder as a small group of ponies; unicorns and earth ponies, were loping closer to the group. Doctor Horse was leading a group of nurses to the scene, he could see clearly that Flamebolt was safely on the ground now and that Twilight, Dash and Caring were all around him.

Twilight could tell that he was gonna pester Flamebolt so she trotted in front of the group and extended her hooves out to stop them from getting any closer. "Princess you must let us through, Mr. Flamebolt needs to return to his room immediately or his body will-" before he could finish his warning, Twilight shoved her hoof into his mouth to silence him. She turned back towards the others to see if Caring was able to convince him to stay.

After a few minutes of silence, he sighed in defeat and finally spoke up, "...Okay."

Hearing him agree to her conditions put everypony at ease, Twilight told Doctor Horse and all the nurses to go back to the hospital and promised that they would make sure he gets back to his room. Knowing that Twilight was true to her word, they all went back to the hospital and left the four ponies to themselves.

Twilight walked back to Caring and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder, "Ms. Heart, why don't we check back on Scootaloo. I'm sure she's worried about you leaving so suddenly."

"Y-yes I think that's a good idea. I better apologize to her as well." She looked at Flamebolt again, her eyes were bloodshot from trying to rub the tears away.

Dash could see in her face that she was still worried about him so she puffed out her chest and gave a salute, "Don't worry Ms.C! I'll make sure this hothead makes it back to his room in one piece!"

Hearing that helped her ease up as she smiled, "Thank you Rainbow Dash." She turned around and headed back to hospital with Twilight walking by her side.

After watching them leave, Dash looked back to Flamebolt who had been silent the whole time. She wasn't sure what to say to him at the moment and seeing him acting like this now was awkward as she rubbed the back of her neck,"So...now that everypony is on the same page... why don't we get you back to bed."

She was expecting him to make some kind of remark or to yell at her but there was no response, instead he surprisingly did what he was told for once and turned back towards the hospital. Although he was still limping, he was still moving at walking pace but avoided looking at her. Shame was printed all over his face and he kept his eyes on the ground.

This was not what she was expecting from the cocky stallion who had the same boat of confidence she would have. When he challenged her to a race, he looked like he was ready to take on everything but the stallion she's looking out now was the complete opposite. She thought she should try and say something but decided it was probably best to leave him be as she followed him back.

* * *

**(Later)**

A few hours passed after the conflict between Flamebolt and Caring Heart and now he was back in his room. He hasn't spoken a word again since then, everypony felt it was best to leave him alone knowing this time he wasn't going to run away again. The others reunited in Scootaloo's room and told those who were left behind to not mention anything that happened and to let Flamebolt rest without bothering him. Caring apologized to Scootaloo and the others for suddenly leaving the room, they forgave her and decided it was best to not talk about what had happened. She realized it was time to leave now and get back to the Orphanage to check on the little ones as they must have been worried why she was gone for so long. She promised to visit Scootaloo again tomorrow and was about to say her goodbyes before Doctor Horse walked back into the room.

"I'm sorry to intrude again but Ms. Heart...he said you can come see him now."

With an understanding nod, she said her goodbyes to everypony before leaving Scootaloo's room. Once out of the room, Doctor Horse guided her to the room next door. She stood in front of the door that was labeled "Flamebolt" and looked to the doctor with a gentle smile, "Thank you for everything doctor, I'm sure he doesn't want anypony else to interrupt us."

Doctor Horse gave her a comforting nod and placed a hoof on her shoulder, "If you need anything else, just let the nurses know and I'll be here as soon as possible."

Caring shook her head in understanding before he went off to check on his other patients. Her chest was thumping, she took a deep breath to calm herself before entering the room.

Inside the room, Flamebolt was sitting in his bed staring out the window even after she closed the door. Caring sat next to his bed and looked out the same window as him while he stayed silent. The sun was slowly beginning to set as the bright sky was starting to grow darker with every passing minute.

They sat in silence for some time, just watching as day slowly turns into night. Caring changed her gaze to Flamebolt and examined him before finally breaking the silence, "You've grown so much...I almost hardly recognized you now. Your mane really grew out too, it looks good on you."

Flamebolt didn't respond to the compliment as he continued to stare out the window.

"You know ever since you disappeared, I always blamed myself for not making enough of an effort to be there for you. I don't blame you for wanting to do what you did...but when you left, I thought you were gone for good. I thought that I failed as a caretaker to keep you safe..."

Hearing this only made it harder on him as he continued to listen in silence.

"But...I made a promise, to continue what I was meant to do and stayed hopeful for your safety. I hoped I would see you again safe and sound and after many years...here you are," tears fell down her face again, "I'm so glad to see your okay Flamebolt..."

Hearing her sobs was too much for him, he couldn't let her feel this way anymore and knew he had to do something here and now. It was time to say what he should have said earlier, "Granny...I'm sorry...for everything."

She wiped away her tears again as best as she could, "It's okay, you don't have to apologize."

"No it's not...I-I just couldn't do it. Ever since that day, I blame myself. I was weak and couldn't do a thing," he started gritting his teeth as anger and frustration started to fill him inside.

"Flamebolt..." She cupped her hooves around one of his to let him know she was there to hear him out.

"Once I've recovered, I'm going to train even harder than before. I can't stop now, I can't let this slow me down...I have to leave as soon as I can." His determination came back to him and helped break him out of his slump, his confidence slowly returning to him.

Seeing his resolve made her happy but hearing that he plans to leave didn't put her at ease. She didn't want him to leave but knew that he had already made up his mind. "Flamebolt...I won't stop you from leaving, but I think you should reconsider staying in Ponyville."

He pulled his hoof out of her grasp, "My minds been made up."

She sighed, she regretted what she was about to do but felt that it was time to say what he had to hear, "Flamebolt...there's some things I need to tell you."

* * *

**(One week later)**

Things seemed to have gone back to normal again in Ponyville. Scootaloo was released from the hospital a few days ago and was allowed to continue her daily life with school, her friends and her home. She was told to take it easy still but to try and put some effort into walking again. Her recovery was good and that she would still feel a little discomfort for the next few days but should go away soon. She wanted to visit Flamebolt after she got discharged, but Doctor Horse unfortunately told her that he didn't want to see anypony for the time being but that she could see him once he was ready to be discharged. She vowed to be at the hospital on the day he would be free to leave.

Today was that day and Flamebolt has made a full recovery. His bandages were removed along with the stiches. He had a visible scar from when he was attacked but it healed up well, leaving a bit of exposure to his skin but the doctors say that in time his fur would grow enough to cover it up, the scar wouldn't be visible for others to see unless he flew over others or exposed his stomach in the air. He didn't care if anypony saw it or not and just wanted to be out of the hospital as soon as he could.

Right before he could try to leave the hospital, Doctor Horse stopped him, "Oh, before you go I need to go over something with you."

His body tensed up, this was the moment he was waiting for, the moment when he would have to go over the expenses from his surgery and the time he spent in their care. He knew he couldn't afford it and that there was no way he would be able to pay it in time. He readied himself to do what he could to avoid their schemes.

Doctor Horse's horn glowed as a chart from the reception stand levitated all the way into Flamebolt's face, "I just need you to sign this release form and you're free to go."

"Wait what?" This was both surprising and confusing at the same time, "Don't I have to pay?"

"Oh no, your bill has already been paid off." The doctor informed him.

"Paid off!?" He shouted in surprise.

"That's right, Princess Twilight was kind enough to pay for the whole thing," he showed the receipt with Twilight's signature on it.

He was given the form and signed his name, still confused and thinking what was going on. This was not a good sign as obviously she had something planned for him since no pony would ever be this kind to do that for him. He didn't have time to understand as he quickly bolted for the doors to leave before he was to run into her. Upon leaving he was already too late, Twilight Sparkle was standing there with a welcomed smile on her face. He also noticed that Rainbow Dash was there too with that smirk on her face he could not forget and of course Scootaloo was right below, excited to finally see him again.

 _'Just my luck...'_ he thought to himself as he looked at the group who were waiting for him to exit the hospital.

"Looks like somepony was eager to get out of there," Dash teased.

"Flamebolt!" Scootaloo lopped her little legs up to him and quickly gave him a big hug on his leg before he could say anything.

The sudden hug was a surprise for him, he had no clue how to handle this since he doesn't show affection for others. He could feel the awkwardness brush over his body, all he could think to do was awkwardly pat her on the head.

Scootaloo broke her hug and stared up at him with the brightest smile on her face, "I'm so glad to see you're okay now!"

"Y-yeah..." this situation was too weird for him and really wasn't comfortable seeing her like this, "Looks like that hoof is better now..." he mentioned, not wanting the attention on him at the moment.

Looking at her hoof, it seemed to have fully healed without any sign of still being swollen and didn't show signs of any cartilage built up. "Yup! The pain is all gone now thanks to you!" She couldn't hold herself back as she hugged him again.

The same awkwardness returned but this time he just looked away and let her continue with the hug.

"What's the matter? Can't handle a little hug from a filly?" Dash mocked at how uncomfortable he looked.

He wanted to retort but felt it wasn't worth it right now, he moved his attention towards Twilight. "Why did you pay my bill?" he asked in a serious tone.

Twilight jumped a little at his change of tone, "Well I thought it was the least I could do since you saved Scootaloo."

He kept his gaze on her with caution, "What do you want from me?"

This random act of kindness was suspicious for him, he didn't trust that she would do this out of good will and thought there was a deal that was about to be made.

"I just wanted to help you out, I'm sure it was difficult enough to recover." She told him truthfully, " Plus it seemed like you were worried about the bill so I went ahead and paid it so you could recover without worry."

He grumbled to her response, "I didn't ask for your help..."

Dash noticed his attitude was coming back as she retorted, "A simple thank you wouldn't hurt,".

He stared daggers at her in return, "I don't have to thank any pony, I would have been fine without you butting in."

"Oh really? And were you gonna pay it off?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.

"It's none of your business what I was gonna do," he growled at her.

Dash glared at him as the two seemed to give off an intense stare down.

Scootaloo didn't like what was happening in front of her, Rainbow Dash was her role model and sister that she looked up to and Flamebolt was the one who saved her. To see them acting like this now was not what she wanted, she couldn't stand it anymore and decided to step in and try to push them apart, "Stop it both of you!"

At the same time, both the pegasus broke out of their showdown after seeing the little orange filly block their view of each other.

"There is no reason you two should be fighting right now!" She had her hooves on both of them and kept them separated.

Twilight joined in to help calm things down, "She's right, Rainbow Dash we promised not to get into any arguments. You wouldn't want to set a bad example for Scootaloo now, would you?"

Dash looked at the filly who was showing concern for her big sister and sighed, "You're right...I'm sorry you had to see that," she apologized while throwing a hoof around the fillies neck and ruffling her mane.

She quickly recovered and gave the same big smile, "I forgive you Rainbow Dash!"

Flamebolt just looked away from them while grunting to himself.

"Look Flamebolt, if this is gonna be bothering you, how about we come to an agreement then," Twilight offered the disgruntled stallion.

"What kind of agreement?" he asked, still not trusting what she had in mind.

"You can pay me back, we'll find you a job and you can get the money for me that way," she suggested.

Flamebolt thought about the idea, in one way he could get the money needed to pay her back and could also start building extra since he was flat broke right now, on the other hoof this would hold him back on his training and these ponies would most likely pry into his lifestyle which would be annoying. He looked at Scootaloo who was staring at him with her big beady eyes, guilting him to stay. He groaned in annoyance, "Fine...I'll get a job."

His response brought a smile to everyponies face but he quickly spoke up, "But don't expect this to make us friends! Once I pay you off that's it, I will never have to see any of you again after that!"

Twilight respected his demand and nodded in agreement, "Fair enough, why don't we go to the castle to discuss what kind of job you can be suited for."

With that decided, Twilight led the group towards the castle with Flamebolt following behind, staying quiet and keeping to himself, Scootaloo was by his side with a bright smile gleaming on her face and Rainbow Dash followed on the fillies other side.

Rainbow Dash would sneak a few peaks at Flamebolt to keep tabs on him and to make sure he doesn't try anything funny. She thought to herself what was this stallion's problem and wondered what happened to cause him to act like this towards others. But yet Granny Care-Care and Scootaloo don't seem to rile him up as much. He wanted to know why but decided to wait for another time to ask him.

* * *

**(Twilight's Castle)**

The rest of the trip to the castle was quiet with no pony talking to each other. They shortly arrived at the castle that towered over anything in the entire town and walked through the giant doors that led inside.

Flamebolt remembered the last time he walked through these doors and entered that peculiar meeting room. He even remembered when he met that little annoying dragon, but suddenly a voice rang through the halls, "Twilight!"

On cue, the little purple dragon came running in from the corner. Spike had just finished putting away the last of the books and was about to take a break when he heard the entrance doors open. Upon seeing Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo he had a happy expression on his face but as he got closer he noticed the familiar hotheaded stallion was with them as well and immediately changed to an irritated look, "What's he doing here?"

Flamebolt smirked at the dragon, "Oh hey, didn't see you down there shrimp!"

Spike growled at him joking about his height, but Twilight raised a hoof to stop him, "Easy Spike, we're just here to get him a job."

"A job!? You mean he's staying here now!?" he yelled in disbelief.

"Don't get your hopes up shorty, I'm only staying till my debt gets paid." Flamebolt commented.

Scootaloo's ears dropped after hearing the news, she wanted to show a better appreciation for him for saving her life.

Twilight cleared her throat to speak, "Why don't we leave it that and discuss what kind of job would be the best for you."

With an agreement from every pony they all entered the meeting room and stood close to the crystal cutie map that stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by the familiar chairs that were there before too. They discussed a few jobs that might have worked for the stallion but he felt they would be pointless for him until Dash mentioned that she was looking for a temporary pegasus to fill her duties as the weather pony of Ponyville while she was going to train with the Wonderbolts for some time. She told him everything he would have to do and said it would be easy for him since he's fast like her.

He thought about it and decided to just go with it since it sounded like the easiest thing for him to do.

With the decision being made, Dash decided to go mention him to her superiors and that he has been given permission from Princess Twilight Sparkle to take over for her. Since he had nothing else to do, Scootaloo offered to show him around Ponyville since he'll be in town for a while.

He didn't want to but Twilight insisted since it would be a great way to show him the area if he has to stay for some time. He whined but agreed to doing it, Scootaloo was excited and led him all through town. She showed him all the popular areas of Ponyville and where the ponies that he met lived, such as Applejack at Apple Acres, Rarity at Carousel Boutique, and Sugar Cube Corner where Pinkie lives. After hearing about where Pinkie lives he decided that it was best to avoid that place the whole time he would be here, so he wouldn't run into her hopefully. She also mentioned Fluttershy's home in the outskirts where he remembered meeting her before and scaring her back into her home. After some hours of understanding the area she decided to bring him to her Crusader headquarters and properly introduce the others to him.

Their headquarters was a small treehouse close by the Apple Farm and could only fit a small amount of ponies. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were waiting inside for Scootaloo to show up to begin today's meeting on what cutie marks they were going to try and earn today. Scootaloo finally entered,which meant it was time to start the meeting until they saw Flamebolt enter the room. They were both surprised to see him out of the hospital and that he ended up in their headquarters. She told them everything that was going on and explained why Flamebolt is with her at the moment. They both understood and decided to let him join in on their meeting.

"Alright now, let's begin today's Cutie Mark Crusader meeting!" Applebloom announced.

The others cheered while Flamebolt stood there, confused about what he was brought into. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders?..." he asked.

"Yeah! Everyday we go try new and exciting things to see what type of cutie marks we earn!" Sweetie Belle answered.

"Wait...so your group is all about getting cutie marks? Why?" He asked, not understanding why they have this club.

"Because we want to find out what makes us special." Scootaloo answered.

"What makes you special? Why does a mark need to tell you that?" He asked.

"Why?!" The crusaders asked in unison.

"You should know! Don't you have one!?" Applebloom asked seriously.

He looked at his flank and could see the mark that he had. It was a yellow lightning bolt with a red and orange flame sitting on top of the lightning bolt. "Yeah, but I don't know what it means," he told them.

This surprised the crusaders as they all gasped together, "You don't know?!"

"How could you not know what it means!?" Applebloom yelled.

"Everypony who has one knows!" Sweetie Belle said with the same volume.

"Don't you remember how you got yours?" Scootaloo asked, a bit more calm than the others.

Flamebolt thought about it for a moment, his face squinted as he tried to remember. He thought of something but shook it out of his head, "Not that much."

Scootaloo noticed the look he made and grew concerned for what he remembered, "Could you tell us where you got it at least?"

He seemed to hesitate giving them an answer but decided it was alright to tell them, "...Summer Solstice..."

This confused them since they never heard of that before, "Do you mean Summer Sun Celebration?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah that one...a long time ago, probably around your age when I got it..." he answered.

"So what happened at that time?" Sweetie Belle asked.

He quickly avoided the question, "Doesn't matter...look I should get going."

He headed for the door but Scootaloo stopped him, "Wait! Don't you want to join us in the meeting?"

He couldn't help but chuckle, "I already have mine, wouldn't be right to interfere with how you find yours."

Hearing that put a smile on their faces, he reached for the door and opened it, "I'll see you around kid." Those were the last words he said before leaving the treehouse. They waved and said their goodbyes to him before he flew off.

Hiding in the tree above the house, Dash was listening in on the conversation and overheard everything. After seeing him leave, she decided to follow him as she chased him through the sky.

* * *

**(Ponyville Center)**

Flamebolt looked around town and remembered that there was a nice view close by. He searched until he found the spot he remembered, rounding up a couple clouds close by, he created a cloud big enough to fit a few ponies on it. He took his time and fluffed up every part of the cloud until it was the softest cloud around. He gently landed on it and smooshed a little nest for him to get comfortable in. He curled himself up and laid his head on the edge with his hooves resting underneath his chin.

It was a nice view as he could see almost all of Ponyville from where he was at. He noticed he was hovering over the same water fountain that he had his race with Rainbow Dash. Remembering that race, he couldn't help but laugh at himself for losing but it didn't discourage him, instead he was excited, "I'll beat her next time..."

"Beat who next time?" a raspy sounded voice came from beside him.

He looked to his left and saw the rainbow maned pegasus was flying in place right next to him , he looked back at the water fountain, "You, duh."

She laughed at his remark, "Yeah right, race me anytime and you'll lose every time."

He just smirked, "We'll see about that. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Care to share that cloud? I'll tell you after," she offered.

He stood up and moved closer to the edge to give her space and redid his routine to get cozy. She landed next to him and felt the cloud out before making herself comfortable as well, "Woah, you make an awesome cloud. This could put me to sleep easily."

"I only make the best of clouds to sleep in." he boasted, making himself seem more talented than her.

She rolled her eyes and chuckled, "Anyways, wanted to let you know I got you scheduled for tomorrow but I gotta show you the ropes first before I leave you in charge."

"Oh great, and I thought I was gonna be all by myself finally," he whined.

"Stop complaining, it will be short and sweet," she mocked him.

He started to relax as he changed the subject, "That kid really looks up to you..."

"You mean Scootaloo? Yeah I'm her role model and awesome big sister! Of course she would look up to Equestria's best flier," she boasted.

"Just don't disappoint her, you do anything wrong and she'll never look at you the same again..." he warned.

She stopped her boasting and gave him a confused look, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just a word of warning, from a pegasus who looked up to somepony before." he admitted to her.

She couldn't believe it, he was opening up to her, "What happened? Who was it you looked up to?"

He lifted his head up and looked over the cloud, the breeze of the wind was cool across his mane and face. "...There's more to Equestria then what you know..."

She was getting curious, he seemed to know something that she wanted to hear, "Like what exactly?"

"Forget it..." he sighed.

This only made her even more curious, "Oh Mr. Top Secret here, acting all mysterious."

"Doesn't even matter, all that you need to know now is that once I get the money and pay off the princess, I want a rematch with you." he told her.

She wanted to know what he was hiding but it was obvious he wasn't gonna say anything and just let it go, "Alright fine, as long as you stick around and visit Scootaloo and pay Twilight back then you'll get your rematch.," she said.

He sighed when hearing the kids name, he stayed silent and went back to staring at the view.

Hearing him sigh gave her an idea and decided to tease him a bit, "You like Scootaloo don't you? I can tell you got a soft spot for her,"

He groaned, "I couldn't care less about her, I just don't feel like yelling at her is all," he folded his hooves and turned away from her.

"Well she seems to already take a liking to you since you saved her, heck she might even become a fan of yours too!" she mentioned.

"I don't need a fan club, all that attention will just be annoying," he said.

She rolled her eyes, "Well whatever, just make sure you keep an eye on her while I'm gone. I need to trust somepony to keep her safe and since you're already her hero, that makes you qualified to do it!"

He groaned, "Fine, I'll keep an eye on her for now."

Hearing him accept put a smile on her face, he wasn't all that bad it seems, "I'm gonna head home now. Meet me right where we had our race early in the morning, and don't be late!" she warned him.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," he waved her off with a wing.

She chuckled to herself before taking off from the cloud and flew towards her home.

Flamebolt sat there for a moment and thought about what she said about Scootaloo and sighed, "What did I get myself into?"

* * *

**(Flashback : One Week ago)**

On that same evening in Flamebolt's room at the hospital, Caring Heart was sitting next to him and said she needed to tell him something, "I want you to stay and look after Scootaloo."

This demand surprised him, "Why should I? She's got Rainbow Dash doing that for her. Plus she has those other fillies that can watch out for her."

"I know, but she still worries me with all the adventures she has had. I just want her to be safe, can you please do this for me..."

He sat there with an annoyed look, not wanting to do this, "I don't really -"

She interrupted him, "If not for me, then-"

* * *

**(Fast Forward to now)**

Flamebolt remembered everything in his conversation at the hospital, regret formed on his face as he broke out of his thoughts. He looked up to the sky, the wind continued to blow against him, he thought back to everything that happened up to this moment. He never expected his past to catch up to him, he regretted a lot of things that happened and never forgave himself. Now he's stuck in Ponyville until his debt is paid off, he didn't plan for any of this to happen but now he has a promise to keep and he will have to follow that promise through, "I guess I got no choice...I'll do it for her..."


	8. Chapter 8- A Dangerous Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being released from the hospital, Flamebolt wanted to leave but Twilight paid his expenses. Not wanting to be in debt, he agreed to stick around in Ponyville and get a job to pay her back. He gets a tour of the small town and is told he'll be taking over Rainbow Dash's job as a weather pony for the time being. With these new changes, he has no idea what he got himself into but it also seems like he made a vow to do what he has to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Let's keep this story going! Enjoy!

As the day was drawing to a close, the sky grew darker and darker. The warm rays from the sun were replaced by a chilling wind that blew through the air. For most creatures, it was time for them to drift off to sleep but for those that are nocturnal, it was their time to be active. Usually everypony is asleep at this time but there is an exception from a certain princess of the night. 

In Canterlot, of the two alicorn sisters that rule Equestria, Luna is the one who performs the nightly duties of raising the moon and creating the stars that shine brightly all across the night sky. After she has completed this task, she will spend the rest of the night traveling into the dream realm. Inside this realm, she can freely move from one ponies dream to another and help those who are experiencing a nightmare. The nightmares don’t come often but when they do, she is there to give guidance to any pony who needs it and helps encourage them to face it head on.

Tonight started like any other night for her, once she entered the dream realm she would search through everyponies dreams for any nightmares that were happening. She encountered a few along the way but were easily resolved. After fixing the dreams, she would leave through a door that would appear whenever the dream is peaceful, that door led to a hallway filled with many more doors. This hallway wasn’t like that of the hospital, there didn’t seem to be walls that connected with these doors, in fact it was more like a void that had no beginning or end in sight. The void was filled with sparkling lights that resembled the stars in the sky at night, and dark clouds that floated above and below the doors. 

She double checked to make sure she had been through every door, making sure that every pony was having a soothing dream. “Let’s see, I believe that does it for this evening,” she spoke aloud to herself.

Satisfied with the work she did tonight, she decided it was about time to leave the dream realm. Using her magic, she focused it towards her horn as it began to glow and slowly a gateway into the real world was opening but was interrupted by a weeping echo that vibrated through her ears and filled the void. She immediately stopped casting her spell, causing the gateway to close, and frantically searched all around her to find out where the weeping was coming from. At first it was hard to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, but slowly she was able to hear the direction it was coming from and followed the sound as the sounds grew louder and louder with each step. She would continue to pass by door after door, each was shaped differently from the other and had defining features that separated them from other doors. She passed by a green wooden door with a small beach ball carved at the top, then a golden door with small jewels embedded into the sides. 

Continuing further down the hallway, she grew concerned as the sobbing still continued and was beginning to worry who the pony was that was making these noises. She looked at each door she passed, making sure if any of them were open but they were all sealed shut. She sped up her pace to hopefully find the source quickly and help the pony out before things would get any worse. The sobs continued to get louder and louder, filling her ears up to the point that it was the only thing she could hear, not even the sound of her hooves clicking could penetrate the ongoing noise in her head. 

Eventually her mind was clear, the sounds of crying seemed to have stopped. She looked ahead and noticed a small pony who was softly crying, laying on the ground and curled up into a ball. 

She slowed down as she got closer to the pony, noticing how small they looked on the ground and assumed it was either a filly or colt that was making the noise. She wondered how they even got here in the first place, the only way it was possible to be in this hallway was if she brought them here herself. But feeling like it wasn’t time to be asking questions, she made it a priority to help the little pony and get them back into their dream. 

“Are you alright little one? What is causing you to-” she immediately gasped, as to what she was witnessing in front of her.

It was not an actual pony, but a black smoke that formed the silhouette of one. This smoke was more black than coal but looked dense and solid like it was a physical body. It was wisping from the top of its head to the back of its flank, and the bottom of its hooves. 

Seeing this being in her sight reminded her of how the Tantabus looked, only this one was darker and had a mysterious aura surrounding it. She hesitated to speak, this pony of smoke was different from her Tantabus but it still brought back some bad memories of when she lost control and it escaped into other ponies dreams, creating nightmares that she had to fix. She hesitated, not knowing if it was friend or foe and taking caution as to what it might be doing, “W-what are you?” 

The pony formed of smoke stopped crying and slowly rose to all four legs, upon closer inspection it was smaller than her, but it didn’t show any features of being a filly or a colt. It turned around and faced her, it had no eyes, no nose or even a mouth. 

She backed up with caution, unsure what it was about to do or what it was planning, “Where did you come from?” 

The smoked being didn’t respond to her question, remaining silent it turned towards a door that it was standing next to. The door had a dark red oak wood to it with a black metal frame around the edges. The handle looked a little rusty but was still firmly connected to the door.

This was the first time she noticed a door like this, after spending many nights in the dream realm she would have remembered seeing it but this was the first time it appeared. _‘Is this where it came from? How did it get out here?’_ Her mind wandered as she tried putting the pieces together, _‘Hmm...if it just appeared then somepony must have just fallen asleep.’_

The smoked being walked closer to the door, not giving her anytime to ask any questions. Before anything else could be said, it walked through the door like a ghost. 

She couldn’t believe what she witnessed, it walked through the door like there was never one there. She didn’t know what it was after, was it trying to show her where to go or could it possibly be a trap. She could feel that something inside of her was telling her to follow it. She had to take the gamble, she took a deep breath to calm herself down and mentally prepared for whatever dream she was about to encounter. She opened the door as a bright white light shined through the whole doorway, making it hard to see what was on the other side. She took the first step and slowly walked towards the light, after passing through the door closed behind her.

She had to shield her eyes from the blazing light, it soon died down to the point where she could open them again. Her vision was fuzzy at first but slowly became focused and clear to the sight of white puffy clouds.

Clouds were everywhere in sight, they made the soft ground below her hooves , they shaped many different structures and held together buildings. Many pegasi could be seen flying through the air and walking on the same ground as her.

At this time she knew where she was at, Cloudsdale, the mobile city in the sky that floated over the land of Equestria. Home to pegasus ponies and central location for developing clouds, rainbows, and snowflakes.

She was surprised to see how normal things seemed to look in this dream, in fact it almost felt like she was just transported to the city. But that changed when she noticed how everything was colorless, from the pegasi to the buildings, even the clouds looked more grey than white.

She remembered that she was looking for the pony made of smoke and began searching around this monochrome world. As she observed her surroundings, she noticed that everypony she walked past didn’t pay attention to her and continued on like it was a typical day. She would try calling out to them but end up being ignored by all of them, even waving a hoof in their face didn’t seem to grab their attention. She walked down the busy streets and kept her eyes peeled in case this dream would give her clues as to where she was supposed to look. While searching, a little filly was galloping towards her at full speed. She didn’t notice the filly until the last second and tried to stop herself but was too late to react as the filly was about to collide with her. She waited for the impact but felt nothing as the filly just ran through her, quickly transforming into white smoke before reappearing as the filly again behind her. The filly continued to gallop down the road like nothing happened, until she disappeared into the crowd.

This was very new to her, in most dreams she enters she has always been able to touch whatever was there. She tried touching a pegasus walking by but they also turned into smoke before reappearing and moving forward like nothing happened. It was clear to her now that none of these ponies could touch her or see her as she proceeded through the large crowds and walked through every pony that was in her way. Her search continued with no results, everything looked the same to her and not being able to talk to anypony was only making it more difficult. “Hello! Is there anypony I can speak to!” She shouted, hoping some pony would respond but it did nothing as everypony was still ignoring her. She thought maybe it would be best to try flying somewhere else in the dream but an echo rang in her ears softly, “This way...”

Her ears twitched as she quickly searched the area, there were too many pegasi around to find out exactly where the voice came from.The same voice echoed louder and repeated into her ear, “This way.....”

She moved through the crowd again, not knowing where to go but deep inside it felt like she was being guided towards the direction of where it might be coming from. The same words kept repeating into her head over and over again, making her brain throb a bit and hard to think. Finally the voice in her head was silenced, she stopped when she saw what came into view, it was the same black smoked pony from the hallway, standing there in the middle of the road, like it was waiting for her to find it. 

Seeing it again was making her anxious, she wasn’t sure why but this thing was leading her somewhere and she had to know where, “What are you trying to show me?” She asked while cautiously stepping closer.

The smoked creature stayed silent while walking away from her, on the side of the main road was a dark alleyway that led into the darkness. It entered the alleyway and walked closer into the darkness, looking back to her before submerging into the abyss.

She could tell it was saying to follow her, but something didn’t feel right about this alley. It feels like something inside of her has been reawakened and is being drawn towards the darkness, _‘Could it be? Is the Tantabus returning!?’_

Even though she was finally able to overcome her past and forgive herself, she thought it would be gone for good after merging together but now it feels like it’s trying to come back. _‘Is something in this darkness bringing it back? Could there be a nightmare inside that’s worse than what I went through!?’_

She was starting to get nervous at this point, it was bad enough to have to deal with the Tantabus again but now it’s being drawn to whatever lies ahead. She didn’t understand why this was happening, ‘ _Could that mysterious smoke be the cause of this?’_

This was starting to feel more dangerous, whatever that thing is trying to show her, she had to deal with it quickly before it could get any worse. With a few puffs of air into her lungs and a steady mind, she proceeded into the abyss. The further in she goes, the darker it gets until it was darker than the night itself. She looked backed the way she came and noticed that the alley was gone, replaced with nothing but a black void. The entire area was empty, nothing could be seen for miles ahead or behind but yet she was able to see her hooves, flank and the rest of her body. 

She could feel the solid ground beneath her hooves and with every step she took, the clicking of her hooves would echo, filling the empty void with the endless sound.

It felt pointless to keep moving if she didn’t know where to go but with some focus and concentration, her horn started to glow and with a burst of power, a bright light blasted in every direction and expanded a wide range to help brighten her surroundings and possible find a clue as to where she needed to go.

At first it didn’t seem to change anything, but as seconds went by the ground was slightly shaking. Then the shaking grew more violently as if it was becoming an earthquake. She fumbled around as the shakes continued for a minute but it quickly stopped after that. 

Suddenly the sound of sobbing was filling the void, it sounded exactly like what she heard before entering this dream. Her head was on a swivel as she tried to find the source of the sobbing and saw the same smoke pony but it was standing over an actual small pony who was holding their hooves over their face and crying. The pony was wrapped in what appears to be a gray colored blanket, which covered their entire body from head to hoof but left an opening to see the bottom half of their face.

Witnessing the crying pony, she thought this must be what it was trying to lead her to as she walked closer to them. She glanced at the smoked figure as it turned towards her before fading away, leaving the crying pony by themselves. She moved closer to the crying pony and asked, “What is troubling you little one?”

The pony stopped their sobbing and began to whisper, “They’re gone.....”

She was feeling concerned for the pony, they were all alone and she wanted to help, “Who is gone?”

They kept repeating the same words, “They’re gone...they’re gone...”

She placed a hoof on the pony to try and help calm them down, “I want to help you but you need to tell me who you are talking about.”

The pony pulled away from her, gritting their teeth as they stood in front of her, “Gone...gone...gone,” the words were getting louder and more aggressive each time, “Gone,Gone,Gone,Gone.”

Her body seemed to be reacting to the pony as if they were trying to draw the Tantabus out of her, “Please you need to calm down, the more you lose control of your emotions the more unstable your dreams become!” 

They ignored her as they continued to grow more furious,“Gone!Gone!Gone!GONE!GONE!” The ground shook again and with each word they spoke, the more violent the shakes would become. 

Cracks began forming from the ground, bright orange light was seeping out from them,and the ground was getting hotter and hotter. Her body was struggling to keep it together as she could feel that the Tantabus was returning and wanted to get out. She tried calling out to them again but was interrupted as flames started bursting out of the ground. The flames rose high above Luna, the heat coming off them was scorching and if she got too close then it was most likely gonna burn her. They formed pillars of fire around her and the pony and spread around until they connected and formed a barrier, trapping them both inside with no chance of getting out.

This dream wasn’t like any other dream she encountered before, the fire was hot, much hotter than it should be. A dream shouldn’t feel this real and yet with this one, she could feel the heat coming from the fire. It was so real and if she touched the fire, it’s possible she could actually get burned. _‘This can’t be right, if I get burned here then does that mean I’ll also get burned outside the dream realm too?’_ This was becoming a very bad situation, her mind was racing as she tried to figure out what to do next. She glanced back at the pony who just stood there and stared at her, the light from the flames revealed an enraged face with hatred in their eyes. She had to protect the pony, if she could get hurt in this dream then it could be possible they can as well, “Quickly! You need to stay close to me!”

Her voice seemed to fall death on their ears, instead the pony just started backing up into the fire. They stared intently at her while backing closer and closer, not even hesitating from the heat.

She shouted at them to stop but it was too late, the pony emerged into the fire. She closed her eyes and looked away, fearing to see them scream in agony and watch them burn, but there wasn’t any screaming. She opened her eyes to see what was happening but the pony was gone, they seemed to have disappeared into the fire without a trace. To make matters worse, the fire was drawing closer to her by the minute, her body was heating up and she began to sweat. Her space was becoming limited and she had no way of flying out of it.

The air was becoming thin as she struggled to breathe and could feel her lungs burning. The flames weren’t letting up and time was running out, she was starting to get fatigued quickly and had to make a move now. She closed her eyes and focused on her magic, with a blast of magical energy she was able to create a wall and pressed it against the ground that the flames were coming out of, making an opening for her to escape. The wall was just wide enough for her to squeeze through but her lungs were slowly losing air, causing her magic to grow weak. Her coat was getting moist as her body temperature was still rising from being toasted in the dome, she started to sweat profusely but with enough strength and effort she jumped through the opening and barely made it to the other side before her magic faded and the flames just missed burning her tail.

She failed to land on her legs and slid across the floor, the extra sweat added to her body made her slide farther away from the fire. She finally had a chance to get that much needed air back into her lungs as they burned and had to cough, but she was able to regain herself and her body temperature was slowly cooling down.

With a refocused mind and recovering lungs, she stood up and looked back towards where the fire was. Her eyes went wide as there was nothing there, it was as if the fire never existed but that was impossible because she could still feel her body sweating and the tingling in her lungs. She thought maybe this dream was possibly messing with her mind but denied it cause she could still feel it and it was real, “This is much more dangerous than I thought. If I’m not careful...I could end up trapped in here or worse.....”

“Trapped...” That same voice echoed in her head, she looked around and saw the smoked figure again, standing a few feet away.

She stepped back and aimed her horn at it, now believing that this thing is her enemy, “So was that a trap? Were you trying to get rid of me?” She wasn’t sure what she got herself into but now felt that whatever this thing was, it can’t remain here.

The smoked figure didn’t respond again, slowly it began approaching her. It’s silence was wearing thin on her as it kept getting closer and closer to her.

“That’s far enough!” Her horn glowed brighter as she was preparing to fire at it. “You will tell me why you brought me here or I will erase right here and now!”

It stopped in place, the threat seemed to finally get a reaction. But it lifted one of its wisping hooves and pointed behind her, telling her to turn around. 

She couldn’t trust it but her body was slowly fighting against her as she turned around and saw a door slowly coming out of the darkness, “Another door?” Seeing this door made her even more confused, she didn’t understand what it was this thing was trying to tell her, “Why is there a door here? Is this suppose to be an exit?”

The smoked figure walked past her and headed towards the door. It stopped right in front and sat,turning back towards her, “Trapped...,” it repeated the same word.

“Trapped? Is something trapped behind this door?” she asked, her guard was still up as she approached the door slowly. Upon closer inspection, this door was different from all the other doors in the dream realm. This door looked older and more worn out, it was all metal with chains wrapped around it. There didn’t seem to be an actual lock on the door but she could tell that there was something different about it. 

“Lost...forgotten...” The words spoken from this thing was making no sense to her.

“What do you mean? What is behind this door?” She examined the door closely, trying to see if there was a way for her to remove the chains and open the door.

“Memories.....” The pony replied.

Her ears twitched after what she just heard, “Did you just say memories? This door leads into someponies memories?” She couldn’t believe it, ever since she first took responsibility for looking over every ponies dreams she learned all kinds of things about how they work. How every dream is affected by what the pony is thinking before they sleep, what they are feeling and how it shapes the dream. She experienced many types of dreams and learned how each one was manifested. But at one point she learned that dreams can also be connected to memories, having ponies relive moments in their lives that they either enjoyed or wish they would forget. There have been a few instances where she was able to show past memories to ponies that needed help, but for a door to lock away a memory, this was new to her.

She looked at the figure beside her and asked herself how was this thing was able to guide her to this door. It seemed to know exactly where to take her and seemed to be able to travel through the dream world. Then it started to make sense, she figured out exactly what this thing was now and what it was trying to show her, “You’re...a subconscious...” She saw it nodded to her discovery of its identity.

“Y-you’re the subconscious of this dream!” This was big news for her, she learned that the subconscious is always hidden in every mind and can affect beliefs, experiences, skills and even memories. It’s a big part of how everypony functions and can control what they think of themselves. No one is ever aware of their subconscious but they are the guides to what all creatures do in life. 

To actually see one in a physical form was shocking, to think a subconscious would show itself to her and ask for help, _‘Was this door the reason for it to appear?’_

She now knew what she had to do now as she prepared her spell and shot a beam of blue light out of her horn towards the door hoping to break whatever was locking it, but suddenly a dark orange colored magic circle appeared in front of the door and protected it from the spell. The impact with the circular light caused an explosion of light, the force of the explosion pushed her back a few feet. 

A cloud of white smoke covered the door, making it hard to tell if her spell had any effect.The smoke cleared and the magic circle was still there, “W-what’s going on?” She couldn’t believe what she saw, her spell seemed to have no effect as it stayed there with no visible damage to it, “A magic seal? Here in a dream? B-but how is that possible!?”

No pony should be able to use magic in the dream realm except for herself, she is the only one who can enter dreams. Not even her sister Celestia can enter, let alone use magic in dreams. This was troubling news to learn.

The seal started to glow as an eyeball was forming in the middle, this eyeball was black and had a sharp vertical pupil of a predator and a burnt orange eye color around it. The eye scanned the area before looking down and stared at Luna, it’s gaze brought a shiver down her spine and her body shook with fear. The eye was menacing, it felt as though it was drawing the Tantabus out of her. She has felt fear before when she had to face her old self as Nightmare Moon but this was on a different level. Sweat was beating down her face and her heart was racing, it was hard for her to breath and her chest was tightening up. It blinked a few times before closing itself, disappearing along with the bright magic seal only leaving the door behind. 

Her legs collapsed underneath her body, her breathing was panicked as if she just avoided death. She slowly calmed down, her body was starting to regain some composure, “F-for my magic to do nothing...it's as if that seal was on a level of its own.” This was not looking good, if her magic couldn’t do anything then who knows how powerful the caster of this spell was “I have to report this to my sister,” she looked towards the subconscious being who stood and watched the scene, “Do you know who casted this spell?”

It didn’t respond, not giving her any clues as to who or what created the spell. “Please! Give me some kind of clue, so I can warn ponies of this threat!” She pleaded but the ground started shaking furiously, causing her to lose her balance and collapse to the floor. “What’s happening this time?”

“It’s here...” It replied, as the ground shook it remained in place but its physical form seemed to be fading away.

“What’s here?” she grew concerned for what might be approaching, the shaking seemed even more intense than before.

“The darkness.....” It answered as black tendrils slowly oozed from the ground, trying to wrap her and the subconscious up. 

As the tendrils tried to grab her leg, she was able to kick them away but more kept trying to grab her. She extended her wings and flew off the ground right before they could grab her. But the tendrils were relentless as they grew longer and tried to pull her out of the sky. She charged her horn and blasted bright energy at the tendrils, some of the tendrils would get blasted off but more would grow back in place. 

She looked to the ground and saw the tendrils have already gotten a hold of the subconscious, she tried blasting them but more would appear and sacrifice themselves to protect the ones that had grasped it. Her magic was proving pointless as these tendrils were endless and didn’t plan on stopping any time soon. She saw as they were slowly pulling it down into the ground, but the subconscious looked up to her, “Get out.....” it was able to say before fading away, not giving the tendrils a chance to catch it.

Luna’s heart was racing, the tendrils were everywhere as they seemed to be in control of the entire void. She tried her best to fend them off but was running low on magic. Her guard slipped as a tendril was able to wrap around her leg and pulled her towards the ground. Her body was cushioned from all the tendrils but they slithered across her body, wrapping themselves around her. The feeling of these tendrils made her disgusted, they weren’t wet or slimy yet they slithered on her like snakes. She tried to squirm out but they were proving to be stronger than her, her body was growing weaker with every passing second.

The tendrils were pulling her into the ground, she tried fighting her way out of their grasp but could do nothing as she slowly submerged into the abyss. The immediate darkness shifted as her surroundings changed, her body felt wet and water began to fill in her mouth as she looked to see that she was now underwater and still being pulled down by the tendrils. They kept pulling her deeper and deeper below, she felt hopeless and was slowly losing consciousness. From within her body a purplish smoke was seeping out of her body, the Tantabus was trying to escape but a tendril grabbed on and tried to pull on it. It tried to fight against the tendril that kept pulling but with Luna losing strength it didn’t have much power to fight back.

A bright red light started shining in the vast space of water, the rays showered over them, causing the tendrils to wriggle in pain and releasing both her and tearing off a piece of the Tantabus before sinking down and disappearing into the abyss with a small piece of purplish smoke in possession. The light seemed to be giving her strength as her consciousness was returning, giving her the power to pull the Tantabus back within and merging together again. 

She looked towards the red light and saw that it was coming from a giant red crystal, sitting in place underwater. The crystal’s light was radiating as it blinded her sight, a calm and soothing female’s voice rang in her head, _‘You must find them, find them all before Equestria is consumed by darkness...’_ The voice sounded so familiar to her, as if she heard it before, _‘I know you can do this... my little moonpie...’_ Her eyes shot open upon hearing those words, _‘M-Mother!’_ the light slowly faded away and the crystal was gone.

A sudden current pulled her through the water, carrying her away. A loud roaring sound was heard underwater, the currents continued pulling her to the source. She tried swimming up but the current was too strong and kept her at bay. Suddenly a current pushed her up and she was pushed to the surface, giving her a chance to breathe air finally. She coughed up some water that filled her lungs and tried inhaling as much as she could while still being carried by the current. The roaring sounds were becoming clear now that she was above the water, in her view a waterfall was coming up. She tried paddling in any direction to get away but there was nowhere for her to swim too. Her time was up as she fell down the waterfall, her body was soaked as she tried to use her wings and fly but was too heavy from absorbing all the water. She was helpless again as she just continued to fall down with the water.

Looking farther below she noticed the familiar door from when she first entered this dream suddenly appeared, it was facing horizontally from the waterfall but facing her perfectly as it opened. She opened her wings and tried to coordinate them with her trajectory to fall through the door, on the other side she was faced with a wall as she crashed into it. The door closed behind her and she fell off the wall and flopped against the ground, soaking wet and covered in water. She sat up and coughed up the remaining water that filled her lungs. When she was able to breath again she looked around to see where she had ended up this time. 

To her surprise, she was back in her chambers at Canterlot. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things or a part of another trap, she sighed in relief when she saw that her room was still there. She had finally escaped from that crazy dream and survived the dangers within it. 

Although she was glad to be out of there, she could still feel her wet fur and continued to cough up some water. Even though that was supposed to just be a dream, her mind and body could still feel the pain she went through while inside that dream. After everything she discovered, this scared her to know that there's somepony out there who is also entering dreams and messing with ponies memories. This was not a good sign as that could mean they could tamper with anyponies dreams, and if she could feel pain in them then there was a chance for the same to happen to others, or even worse if this continues to happen. 

But something else was bothering her as well, she heard her mother in somepony else’s dream and warned her of Equestria’s danger. She wondered what her mother meant by that and what she was supposed to find. _‘Could it have to do with that red crystal?’_

She could ask herself all the questions that needed to be solved but there was no time, she has to report what happened in the dream realm right away. Light started to shine through her window as the sun was beginning to rise, this meant that Celestia was awake. Without worrying about herself, she stood up and slammed the door open, quickly leaving her room. The guards around her door jumped when she bursted through and ran past them, towards the throne room. Many guards tried to call out to her and ask why she was rushing through the halls, but she ignored them as she had to get to Celestia right away, _‘I must tell my sister of this immediately, she has to know the dangers that may now be residing in the dream realm.’_

As she continued galloping past more guards, royal advisors and other high end ponies, Celestia was sitting on her throne room chair in the middle of a big open room surrounded by glass portraits of all the accomplishments from her time to Twilight and her friends' time.

She was just about to begin her morning duties when Luna slammed the doors open in a panic. This gave Celestia a surprise to see her sister up at this time, she was wet and her face showed great concern, “Dearest sister! I have important news that I must tell you!”


	9. Chapter 9- A Moment To Open Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Luna had went through a nightmare that could of cost her life. But she was able to escape and managed to learn that their might be some creature that is able to enter dreams as well. She was warned about immediate danger to the world and must search for something that may be able to save the world. Once back in the waking world, she ran off to worn Princess Celestia of what she discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took some time but I finally got another chapter in! Just a word of warning, I don't know anything about flying so I tried naming moves and stunts. So if I did name anything wrong let me know so I can fix that in the future. Anyways, enjoy the next chapter!

The start of a new day had arrived, the sun was just beginning to rise and some ponies in Ponyville were starting to wake early to set up their shops and start their day of buisness. Most ponies would still sleep a bit longer until the sun was completley up, one of them being Rainbow Dash.

Since her job wasn't too complicated, she would usually sleep in a bit longer but today was one of those days that had to change. Since she volunteered to get Flamebolt a job, she had to follow through with her promise and meet him early in the morning at the fountain. She regretted making that decision as she felt groggy and her eyes were struggling to stay open.

While flying into town she let out a few yawns here and there, not really feeling energized to begin her day, "*yawn* Why did I say early in the morning?" She tried to keep herself from yawning more but a couple more were able to escape her mouth as she slowly descended into Ponyville. "Maybe he'll forget and I can go back to sleep for a bit," she hoped as she landed by town hall.

The town was a bit empty at the moment and there were only a couple ponies who were out and about setting up for the day. Some were getting their shops ready while others were just wanting to get an early start to their day.

She walked away from the town hall and headed towards her meeting point at the fountain. Looking around, she couldn't find him and it seemed like she was gonna get what she wanted.

A somewhat deep voice was coming from the other side of the fountain, "*grunt*43...44...45...46" Looking around the fountain, she could see Flamebolt was in the middle of a workout. He was busy doing some wing ups and it looks like he has been at it for awhile as sweat was visibly falling from his face.

"Geez Flamebolt, I would've never taken you for an early riser," She commented but it seemed to fall to deaf his ears as he continued his wing ups.

"47...48...49...*grunt*50!" With that final push, he was able to almost throw himself off the ground with all his might as he landed on all four hooves. He finally noticed she was standing close by, his breathing was a tad heavy as he spoke to her, "About time you showed up."

"Well _soooorry_ ," she said, a bit irritated with how early she had to be awake, "I don't get up this early in the morning."

Flamebolt on the other hoof seemed to be wide awake, with his blood pumping and full of energy. "I don't have a problem with it," he shrugged, moving towards the fountain.

"How long have you been up anyways? You're covered in sweat," she noted his appearance.

"Since the sun started to rise, I guess," he answered before dunking his head into the water, it felt cool underneath and helped wash the sweat off him. He pulled his head out and shook his head as dry as he could for the moment, his mane was damp but was still able to keep it looking wild.

"That early!? No pony is crazy enough to be up before Celestia finishes raising the sun!" She shouted, this surprising news helped wake her up more.

"I've always been an early riser, gives me more time to train before anypony else is even up to bother me," he started some simply stretching of his wings.

"Is training the only thing on your mind? Don't you ever just chill out for a day?" she questioned him.

He stopped his stretching, "I'll chill out when I beat you."

"Still going on about that?" She questioned, "Well better not slack off with all that training then if you ever want to come close to beating me."

He let out a soft chuckle, "Oh I never slack off, that's something I guarantee you."

"Hmm..." Seeing him with all this confidence, she took a moment to study him.

It was clear that he had the frame of an athlete but he was bulkier than any other stallions she ever flew with, Soarin included. He obviously wasn't lying about his training cause it showed, not only that but his speed was impressive when they raced. It's possible he could get even faster the way he's committed to getting better.

"What are you looking at?" He asked, feeling a little awkward as she kept looking up and down his body..

"Oh it's nothing, just wondering how I haven't seen a pony like you around the Wonderbolts academy, or any flying competitions for that matter," she answered. "With your speed, you could get a chance to become a Wonderbolt like me!"

"Oh? You're a Wonderbolt?" he challenged.

"Heck yeah!" She stuck her chest out in glory but pulled it back in, "I mean I'm a reserve right now, but they know how awesome I am and are saving me for when a spot opens up. I'm practically already one!"

"Good for you..." He looked at the ground, lost in thought for a second before he quickly changed the subject, "Anyways shouldn't we get started? The sooner you tell me what I have to do, the sooner you can go back to sleep."

This wasn't the reaction she was hoping to get from him, she wanted to see some jealousy but he ended up looking disappointed and it seemed like the Wonderbolts have something to do with it. She wanted to ask what was wrong but figured he wouldn't tell her anything. She then remembered she had some news to tell him, "Yeah...about that...forgot to tell you that we gotta go to Cloudsdale first."

"Seriously? Why the heck do we have to go there?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"Geez, what's got you so worked up? They needed to meet you face to face and to put you in the employment records," she responded.

He grumbled to himself, "Fine...let's just get this over with."

Seeing him acting like a grouch was not what she wanted to deal with today. She started to learn that it's best to just get things over with than to deal with his short fuse. "Then let's go."

With the two in agreeance, they flew off into the bright blue sky and left Ponyville, heading towards Cloudsdale. This was their previous home so they both knew where they were going. On the way, the two were keeping even in speed but Flamebolt decided to let himself loosen up a bit as he started to perform a few small tricks, he rose quickly into the sky but immediately stopped flapping his wings. While stalling his wings, he did a backflip and started to fall back towards the ground but with control and precision, he extended his wings and leveled himself out before flapping his wings again. He closed his eyes and let the wind guide him, his anger slowly faded away as he enjoyed the calmness the breeze brought to him. He felt at peace with himself in this moment, this was the one thing he enjoyed the most. The sky had no limit to him and was able to fly freely to his heart's content.

Rainbow Dash could see he was enjoying himself and decided to join in on the fun. She performed a tight upward half loop and ended upside down before rolling back to a leveled position. She then decided to do a couple front flips before catching herself with her wings and flapping her wings again..

Flamebolt noticed what she was trying to do and decided to make it a challenge as he stepped it up with a couple loop-the-loops, he then added a barrel roll. After performing these tricks he ascended back to her level and grinned, indicating that it was her turn to show him something.

She smirked and quickly dropped downward, building up speed while doing a continuous corkscrew. As she was getting closer and closer to the ground it seemed like she was gonna crash face first but before that she leveled herself out and extended her wings, she leaned back and was able to narrowly dodge the ground as she pulled herself back into the air. She shouted in joy as she ascended back up to his level.

They looked at each other before distancing themselves and began performing some more maneuvers. Slowly the two were becoming in sync with their movements as they mimicked one another. They started spiraling downward, matching each other's speed and crossed paths with each other before pulling back into the air. Without realizing it, they were performing moves as a duo, they were mirroring each other's movement and having a blast. It wasn't a competition anymore, it was just two pegasi having fun.

Cloudsdale was coming into view, they realized the best way to end this was to make it a quick little race and see who would land first. They increased their speed and shot straight towards the city in the sky.

* * *

**(Cloudsdale)**

The city was at peace and all the pegasi were starting their day like normal. But a few saw something approaching from the distance, two pegasi were coming in at high speed. One was leaving a rainbow trail and the other was leaving a trail of fire and electric sparks. The ponies saw them coming and quickly moved out of the way, giving space for them to land without crashing into anypony.

The two landed with an immense force, causing the ground to shake and a gust of wind to blow the surrounding ponies away from them. After an intense minute, everything calmed back down and the startled ponies looked to see Rainbow Dash and Flamebolt catching their breaths.

"That...was...AWESOME!" She squealed with excitement. "I can't believe what we just did! You really pulled off some sick moves up there!"

"I know right!" He replied with the same enthusiasm as her, "We were all over the sky and you were pulling off some insane tricks yourself!"

The two gave each other a hoof bump and laughed at the experience. They didn't seem to notice the other pegasi around, who were recovering from their intense landing as they continued to talk about their stunts.

For the first time since meeting Flamebolt, she witnessed a bright smile on his face as he talked about the moves they were pulling off together. It was hard to believe he was the same grouch from before, always either gloom or angry but he seemed like a completely different stallion right now and flying seemed to be the key to this.

She was actually enjoying a conversation with him which she didn't think would be possible, the smile on his face really made her see there was a different side to him. It made him look more friendly and made her feel comfortable to be around him, "Wow, I would have never thought you could smile like this."

Hearing her say that made him realize what he was doing, his heart was beating like crazy and his cheeks felt tight. He could feel the warmth spreading through his body, looking around he noticed a mirror with his reflection in it. The mirror showed him with a happy expression on his face while shining his white teeth. He quickly shoved a hoof into his mouth to hide his expression, turning away from her, he tried to calm himself down as this feeling was surprising to him. ' _What in Equestria is happening to me? Why am I feeling this way right now?'_

This emotion he was feeling confused him, he never smiled like this and yet he was doing it now. Whenever he flew it was either to clear his thoughts, to focus on improving his speed, or to beat whoever he faces with determination. But this emotion was different, yet familiar to him, like a missing part of him had returned.

Watching him turn away from her brought question to what he was doing. He was so happy a minute ago and yet when he realized what he was feeling, he tried to quickly hide it from her.

He took a moment to control his heartbeat and then cleared his throat before speaking, "S-stop wasting time and lets get going." He gritted his teeth in an attempt to erase the smile on his face, as he shook the feeling away from him. He moved on ahead without giving her a chance to follow, trying to keep his distance from her.

"Wait up!" She called out, trying to catch up to him. She wondered what had just happened, they were having a nice conversation but now he's trying to avoid looking at her.

' _Stay calm, forget whatever you were feeling just now. You just let your guard down that's all, flying is about being the best. Remember that.'_ He was deep in thought, telling himself to forget what just happened. He continued moving forward but could hear Rainbow Dash trying to get his attention.

"Hey! Will you listen to me!?" She shouted, flying in over him before hovering in his path. "What the heck was that all about?"

He grumbled to himself and moved around her, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She landed in place but quickly moved next to his side and trotted at the same pace as him, "Don't play dumb with me, you were smiling from ear to ear and all of the sudden you try and ditch me."

"I-I wasn't smiling, I just remembered a really funny joke, that's all," he told her while avoiding eye contact.

She could tell he was lying and wanted to get a straight answer from him, "Yeah right! Spill it, you were having fun flying weren't you!?"

"That's ridiculous! Why would I be having fun? I only fly to be the best!" He retorted while picking up his pace.

"Oh come on! You're telling me that you only fly just so you can be better than everypony!?" She inquired while matching his speed.

Flamebolt continued to move faster and faster until he started galloping, not only was he fast in the sky but he was also fast on hoof. Rainbow Dash was surprised she was having trouble catching up to him so she decided to use her wings to gain speed and flew right next to him, easily keeping up with him. She continued to question him until she would get the answers she wanted but he was too stubborn and refused to tell her anything.

"That's it! I've had enough of you running from me!" She shouted as she leaned her body towards him and flapped her wings with all her might, putting all her force into tackling him.

The collision wrapped them up as they rolled across the streets for a good distance. Eventually they stopped rolling and ended up with Flamebolt on his back against the ground with Rainbow Dash standing on top of him, pinning his body against the ground.

The two were breathing heavily from the chase but she ended up catching him, "I finally...got you..." Looking down, she could see he was still trying to push her off of him but she pressed him further into the ground.

He groaned in defeat, "Fine...you win..." He stopped fighting back and relaxed his body to show he wasn't gonna pull anything.

Seeing that he stopped his struggling, she released her hoof from his body and stepped off of him so he could get up. "AJ was right...you are more stubborn than a mule."

He rolled off his back and dusted himself off, he didn't bother to look at her and remained silent.

"Look, you obviously won't tell me your problem is and that's fine. Whatever your deal is, I won't ask." She walked past him and headed towards the direction of the building they needed to go to, she stopped and shouted back at him, "But if you're expecting to get a rematch from me, you're gonna have to open up like earlier! I won't race you until I meet that guy again!"

This day was already off to a bad start, Rainbow Dash had witnessed him in a happy moment and it backfired quickly as he tried to get away from it, but it was pointless to run when she's around. He followed behind her in defeat, wanting to be alone in thought again as he tried to figure out what was happening to him.

Rainbow Dash looked back to see he was following her, she smirked knowing he was going to be obedient now. She knew it probably wasn't the best decision to handle him like this but with the way he acts, it was the best she could do for now. With this silence, it gave her some time to think, ' _Well at least that's taken care of. But still, there seems to be more to him than he leads on.'_ She remembered the tricks he was pulling off which brought more questions, ' _Thoses moves he pulled off we're definitely from the Wonderbolts. Could he have been one? I'll have to ask Spitfire if she knows anything about him.'_

After some time, the two arrived at their destination. The building was average size and didn't seem like it would hold many ponies in. But it turns out it was just an administration office that helps employ pegasi and keeps records of all who are looking for work. Not many ponies work in this building but they do get information to and from many areas in Cloudsdale.

Once inside, Flamebolt had to get a photo of himself and answer some simple questions before he could begin work. He didn't give out much information and wanted to keep out his identity but was required to have an ID card. He kept his grumpy look and will now be in his records for the rest of his life.

He was approved to take over for Ponyville every other day with Rainbow Dash as long as he reports to any pony within the administration. He will have to check in before every shift and report to the office at the end of every day and at the end of every week he will get his payment from the office. The two left the building with everything in order, today would be his training day with Rainbow Dash and after that he would be on his own every other day after Rainbow Dash.

"Alright, now that we got all the paperwork in, I will show you what we need to do once we get back to Ponyville," she informed him.

He gave her an understanding nod and was ready to leave Cloudsdale as soon as possible. He wasn't in the mood to protest anymore and decided to just do what he was told to do.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and lifted herself off the ground with Flamebolt doing the same. She decided to lead him back and was giving him some pointers on what would be the easiest thing to do on the way back.

He was looking below himself while listening to her pointers, then her words slowly began to muffle out as something caught his eye.

He saw a small obstacle camp that was filled with little fillies and colts who were practicing. He could hear a whistle blowing from the coach at the camp and noticed they were all flying through the obstacle course. He stopped in place and just levitated, looking at the camp like he was reminiscing something in his past.

Rainbow Dash was trailing on with her pointers, not noticing he had stopped for a minute until she realized she was talking to herself. She turned around and saw him floating in place while looking down at the camp. She flew next to him and wondered what his deal was this time, but it seemed like he was lost in thought again and didn't notice her next to him. She waved a hoof in his face and tried to get his attention, "Hello? You in there?"

He snapped out of his thought once he saw her in his sight, "W-what?"

"You were acting weird again, staring at that camp," she pointed a hoof at the camp below them. She couldn't help but smile at the sight, seeing all of them trying to become great fliers brought back some good memories, "Time sure does fly, I still remember how awesome I was at the-"

"Junior Speedster Flight Camp..." he interrupted her.

"Y-yeah...Wait! You were also there!?" She shouted in surprise, she never would have expected to meet somepony like him in her past.

"I wasn't around for long..." he lamented, "Besides, it was pointless for me to stay..."

"Why? Because you thought you were better than everypony?" She questioned, expecting him to act like a hot shot again.

"No...it was the opposite," he told her truthfully.

"The opposite?" She was puzzled with what he was saying.

"As in the worst, like I couldn't fly to save my life," he explained as he started to grit his teeth.

"The worst? But look at you, you totally have the speed and agility that most pegasi wish they had," she objected.

"It didn't come easy...I had to bust my flank to get to where I am now. Training day after day, night after night, pushing myself as hard as I can just to prove ponies wrong," His anger was slowly rising, "They called me an embarrassment and that I would never amount to anything. It was infuriating to hear, always getting laughed at for being weak and to never get encouragement by anypony."

Hearing him venting out his frustration and talking about his past struggles made her feel guilty in a way. If he was at the same camp as her, she should have noticed a pony like him and tried to help him through all that. But if she never noticed him, then it was obvious that she was also part of the blame.

"So now you know something about me, don't expect this to mean anything. I'm just telling you this so you hold your end of the bargain," He zipped past her and headed back towards Ponyville.

She wasn't able to get a word in before he left but remembered the deal she made, "Guess I do owe him a rematch after hearing all that." She followed him back to Ponyville at high speed so she didn't get left behind.

* * *

**(Ponyville)**

Some time passed and Rainbow Dash showed him all he needed to do for the job as weather pony. He would bust a few clouds from time to time and create some when needed for rain. She knew he was capable of handling this stuff and decided to let him finish off the rest of the day. She wished him luck and left to go back to Cloudsdale so she could train with the Wonderbolts. She wished she could have said something back at the camp, she felt like she owed him an apology for not helping him out back ten. He didn't seem to want to bother with any of that right now so she let him be, but this would be a good opportunity to mention him to Spitfire and see if she can find out anything else about him while training.

The day went on like normal, Flamebolt had a clear understanding on what he was doing and finished his work with no trouble at all. With that taken care of, he didn't know what to do with the rest of his free time. He could spend that time training but his stomach told him otherwise as it started rumbling. He hasn't eaten a good meal in awhile and wonders how he even lasted this long, he didn't have any money yet since he has to wait for the week to end.

"Guess I'll have to do this like in the old days...hope I don't get caught, otherwise I'll have to hear from that princess," he pondered about what he should do but his stomachs grumbling convinced him to go through with it.

He flew around town and searched for anything he could eat, he started with a few restaurants. His plan involved landing close by and hiding himself around corners of other buildings. He would scope out each restaurant and see what they had to offer, if he didn't like what they were making then he would move on to the next restaurant. He never did like the fact this was what he had to do, he can't afford anything and he sure as heck was gonna ask for help either.

He prepared to make his move, his heart raced as he waited for the moment to strike, time was starting to slow down as the beating from his heart started ringing in his ears. He took a deep breath and was about to move but something shined in his eye. The shining distracted him as he looked to the source of the light, right below him was a gold bit laying on the dirt floor. This must have been his lucky day as he looked around to make sure that no pony was looking for this bit. Once he was clear, he took the bit and searched for the cheapest item he could at any restaurant or food cart. He managed to get a cheap daffodil sandwich, it wasn't much but it would have to do for now.

"Thank Celestia for that bit! That was so much better than doing things the old way!" He was relieved that he didn't have to go through with his plan.

Now that he had something in his stomach he had to figure out what he could do next, ' _Maybe I can find a good spot to workout for now'_ He blasted off into the sky and searched towards the outskirts for an open area.

He scanned around the town and looked for an opening away from the other ponies. As he passed by some familiar buildings he heard a loud ringing bell, looking towards the source he saw a small school. He remembered Scootaloo telling him that she goes to this school, ' _Sounds like the kid is coming out of school now, guess I better keep my promise and check on her.'_

He glided towards the school but didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he landed on the closest cloud and squeezed himself inside so not to get noticed. He peeked his head out and watched all the little fillies and colts leaving the school building, searching around to see if he could find the orange filly. At first, it seemed like she wasn't going to come out but finally he saw her exit with her other crusaders. He couldn't hear them clearly so he pushed the cloud lower until it was he could hear their voices.

* * *

**(Crusader's View)**

School was over for the day, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were happy to have Scootaloo back with them. For the past week they decided it was best to stay away from the more dangerous activities and settle for safer ways of getting their cutie marks.

"Well crusaders, it's another great day to find our cutie marks!" Applebloom cheered.

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle chirped.

Unfortunately, Scootaloo seemed to be distracted and wasn't paying attention to what her friends were saying.

"Uh, Scootaloo? You okay?" Applebloom tapped her on the shoulder.

"Oh right, sorry girls. I was thinking" Scootaloo answered.

"You were thinking about Flamebolt again, weren't you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo nodded, "I tried asking Granny Care-Care about him this morning but..."

* * *

**(Earlier with Scootaloo)**

The sun had risen over the orphanage, the building wasn't big but it seemed to hold all the ponies who were living there. All the little ones were eating their breakfast, many of the older ones would get ready to go to school after they finished eating while the younger ones would stay and help Caring Heart with chores. Scootaloo offered to help Caring Heart with washing the dishes before she would leave for school.

As the others left the dining room and went about preparing for their day, Scootaloo thought this would be a good opportunity to talk to Caring Heart about Flamebolt, "Hey Granny Care-Care, can I ask you something?"

"What is it Scootaloo?" She asked while washing some plates.

"Well...it's about Flamebolt..." she hesitated to say.

She stopped washing a plate, "O-oh, what about him?"

"I was wondering...how long have you known him?" Scootaloo asked with curiosity.

Caring smiled, "A very long time..."

"Really? Cause I've never heard you say anything about him before. I even looked at all the old photos of every pony you ever took care of and never saw one with him." She doubted as she turned to see her caretakers reaction.

She sighed, "It's...complicated dear, a lot happened that made it difficult to talk about."

This made her curious as she wanted to know more, "What happened?"

"I-I shouldn't say, it wouldn't be right for me to tell you without him saying anything," her expression grew into a sad one.

Seeing her caretaker like this made her feel guilty for bringing in this topic, "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have asked if it's hard on you."

Caring cupped her cheek with a hoof and smiled at her, "It's alright Scootaloo, it's in the past now. But I have to ask, why are you so curious about him?"

"Well there a lot I don't understand about him, before I even met him all I ever heard about him was that he was mean, angry, and just plain rude. But when he saved me, I didn't see any of that, he may not have been the kindest but he still went out of his way to protect me." She still remembers that day clearly and still felt at fault for his injury, "Whenever I try to ask him about himself he will always avoid the questions. He may not say anything but I always see the expressions he makes; angry...sad...hurt...even mentioning friends seems to upset him."

"Well Scootaloo, truth be told he never had a friend from what I remembered," she admitted to the filly.

"That's awful...not even one friend..." he ears dropped after hearing this.

"It was heartbreaking to see him so alone, he never seemed to fit in with anypony," the tone in her voice seemed to quiet down a bit.

"Poor Flamebolt..." Scootaloo began to tear up, she couldn't think what life would be like if she never had a friend.

"But he never knew when to give up. I remember when he was your age, he would always find a way to stay positive," her lips slowly curled into a smile, "In fact, you remind me a bit of him."

"I do?" She was uncertain what it was about herself that reminded Caring of him but did remember something he said to her, "I do remember him saying he couldn't fly like me, is that true?"

"It is actually, even though all the other pegasi around the same age could fly, he couldn't even get off the ground," she chuckled a little bit.

Hearing this news kinda made her feel a bit hopeful and that there was a pony she could relate to, "Wow, and now he's flying! He even raced Rainbow Dash!"

"Oh yes I remember you telling me, I'm so glad to hear that. He was always determined and he still is today," she seemed to cheer up pretty quickly.

"Do you know what he did to learn? Maybe I should get his advice," the little filly started to jump around the room in excitement and flapped her little wings, not flying but she hovered for a second before landing.

She giggled at the energetic filly, "Take it easy now dear, I'm sure he'll get around to telling you how he did it. But maybe you should wait a little bit, he might not be too open yet to tell you."

"Oh right...he doesn't seem to want to be around anypony anyways. In fact, he wanted to leave Ponyville right away! I hope he decides to stay even after he pays off his debt," she hoped so she could get a chance to see him again and maybe get a chance to hear more about him.

"I wonder about that...Oh look at the time, you better get going or you'll be late to school," she warned the orange filly.

"Your right! I better get going otherwise Applebloom and Sweetie Belle will worry about me again!" She shrieked as she quickly ran off to get her things. She grabbed her school supplies and was about to leave the front door.

Caring stopped her before she left, "Have a great day. Oh! If you do ever run into Flamebolt today, can you-"

* * *

**(Present Time)**

"And that's what she told me," Scootaloo informed her friends.

"Well I guess we learned something about him at least," Sweetie Belle noted.

"Still, it's sad to hear he never had a friend...Maybe we can help him and become his first ever friends!" Applebloom suggested.

"Maybe...but it won't be easy. We're gonna have to really convince him to give it a chance, and we have to find him first." Sweetie Belle added.

"Then it's settled! Today we're gonna find Flamebolt and show him what friendship is all about!" Scootaloo declared, feeling determined to help him out.

"Let's do it Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Applebloom cheered with the others copying her energy.

"Well, well, well, looks like the blank flanks are at it again," a voice snickered, causing the trio to stop their cheer.

Two earth pony fillies were walking towards the crusaders, one had a dark gray coat with a lighter shade of gray for her mane and tail. She wore cerulean colored glass and had a beads necklace on, her cutie mark was a silver spoon. The other had a pink coat with purple colored mane and tail with a white streak through them, she also wore a tiara on her head and had one has her cutie mark as well.

"Oh great, it's Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." Sweetie Belle bleated.

"What do you two want this time?" Scootaloo challenged the two.

"Well we just wanted to see how poor little orphan Scootaloo was doing. Must have been quite a fright when you were attacked in those woods," Diamond Tiara gibbed at the incident.

"I'm fine, in fact I'm all better now that my leg is all healed." Scootaloo answered.

"That's good, it would have been a shame if you never came back. I'm sure your parents would have been worried about you, oh wait, you don't have any." She smirked at her.

"Would you knock that off, it's never funny to say that about her." Sweetie Belle stepped in front of Scootaloo to protect her.

"She's only pointing out the facts, she's got no parents and no cutie mark and still can't fly. I mean who could have any worse luck than her," Silver Spoon chimed in.

Scootaloo tried to ignore the insults as her friends tried to stand up for her.

"It must be so hard to be stuck with a pony like her, maybe if she didn't get out of the forest, you two would have a better chance of getting your cutie marks." Diamond Tiara snickered.

"How dare you say that! Scootaloo could have really been hurt and yet you laugh at her!" Apple bloom shouted.

The two continued snickering, "We're just teasing, besides it's not like anypony would notice. That's what the orphanage is for, leaving behind ponies who they don't want. They probably knew how pathetic she was gonna be and decided to get rid of her sooner than to be disappointed with her future failures."

Diamond Tiara hit a sensitive spot in Scootaloo, she never did know who her parents were or why she ended up at the orphanage. She always wanted to know what a family was like and would get jealous whenever she would see ponies being loved by her parents. She loved all her friends and every pony at the orphanage, but deep down she knew that she wanted a mom and dad that would give her the same love. Her eyes started to tear up, she tried to be strong in front of her friends whenever the subject came up, but deep down she would always get upset with it.

"Uh oh, I think she's about to cry now, better call her mommy." Diamond Tiara added as the two began to laugh and point at her.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom hugged Scootaloo who was ready to let her tears fall down her face.

A loud crash came from behind the crusaders, causing a gust of wind to blow their manes over their eyes and made the two bullies stop laughing. A big cloud of dirt surrounded the object that left a small crater in the ground.

A shadowy figure walked through the cloud and revealed itself to be Flamebolt. He seemed to have left his spot in the cloud and shot straight to the ground, causing this entrance.

Scootaloo looked behind with tears in her face and her vision a little blurry, "F-Flamebolt..."

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked in shock as he appeared before them, but could feel something was about to happen.

Flamebolt looked at the three and saw that Scootaloo was crying and had her friends comforting her. His blood was boiling faster than it ever did before as his anger grew until he was furious. He changed his view to the bullies who were a bit shaken by his random appearance but the look on his face started to scare them a bit. He slowly walked past the crusaders who could feel the rage escaping his body, giving them a slight shiver. He approached the two fillies, his steps grew louder and more fierce as he got closer and closer to them.

Scootaloo tried to call out to him but he ignored her as he stopped in front of them. As a stallion he towered over the two and could easily squash them if he wanted to.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon could feel their bodies tremble as he stared them down, his face remaining enraged as his eyes stared deep into their souls. "W-Who a-are you? Did the orphan get a bodyguard now?" She hesitated to reply, still shaken by his size.

"...You think it's funny?" He slowly replied.

"W-what?" She was puzzled by the question.

"You think laughing at other ponies misfortunes is fun?"

"W-well-" Silver Spoon tried to speak but he quickly interrupted her.

"QUIET!" He yelled at them, causing every pony around to jump to his sudden outburst. "You got a lot of nerve, insulting her like that." He leaned in closer to them, "You think she wanted this? To not have what every other pony here has."

"I-I..." Diamond Tiara whispered.

"NO! Every day those orphans have to wake up, wondering why they deserved this punishment!" He shoved a hoof at their faces, "How would you like if you woke up and have no parents? Or better yet, how would you like to be thrown away and forgotten?"

Many ponies could hear his shouts as some were growing concerned as to what he might do to the fillies, "Maybe I should throw you two in the Everfree Forest and see if anypony will care. In fact, why don't I take you now and see if we can find some Timberwolves? I'm sure they would love to meet you."

"Y-you can't do that. Do you have any idea who our parents are or what they will do to you if you try to harm us?" Diamond Tiara tried to warn him, "T-They're some of the richest ponies in town and will do whatever it takes to ruin your life."

The waning didn't faze him as he chuckled, "You think I care what rich snobby ponies do to me? I've been through much worse."

The crusaders sat there and watched, Scootaloo was beginning to worry if he was actually gonna follow through with his threats.

"Ponies like you always piss me off, acting like you're better than every pony. The only reason you make fun of others is because you live a pathetic life, even making fun of them because they don't have a cutie mark is just sad for you. Especially when you have awful marks like those," he pointed at the marks on their flanks.

"H-How dare you!? These marks show everypony how much better we are!" Diamond Tiara argued.

"Yeah! Everypony knows how great they are!" Silver Spoon added.

"At what? Holding a spoon? Or knowing how to use it in a fancy way? That's quite the future you'll have," he insulted her and then got right in Diamond Tiara's face "And what about you? A stupid little tiara that your already wearing on your head," He ripped the tiara off her head and threw it at the ground.

"My tiara!" She shrieked, "Give it back, now!"

He ignored her cries, "Now you better listen, if I ever hear or see you try and do this again," he lifted up his hoof and slammed it into the tiara on the ground, smashing it into pieces. "I'll do far worse to you than this tiara."

Seeing the tiara in pieces caused her to build tears of her own as she cried, Silver Spoon tried to console her but Flamebolt threatened to start now if they didn't leave. They ran away, both scared of his threat and warning that they were gonna report him to their parents.

He looked around and noticed some of the ponies who stood there and watched the whole event, he growled at all of them which caused the ponies to all to leave the area, worrying that he might unleash his rage.

Finally with all the ponies gone, he took a deep breath and was able to mellow himself out. He turned towards the crusaders who were still huddled together as they watched him scare away their bullies, "They shouldn't bother you anymore."

"Wasn't that a bit... much? You didn't have to threaten them like that," Applebloom was the first to speak up.

"If you want a bully to stop, then you gotta give them something to fear if they ever think about trying it again," he told her.

"But you didn't have to break her tiara like that," Sweetie Belle protested.

"She said her family was rich, I bet she'll cry and get a new one quickly." he reminded them what she said, he looked to Scootaloo who rubbed her eyes and was able to stop crying, "You okay kid?"

"Y-yeah...I'm okay," she sniffled,

"You're gonna have to deal with that all the time, no matter what you can't let ponies like them bring you down," he informed the orange filly.

Scootaloo nodded, her and the rest of the fillies stood up and looked around. They noticed that everypony was gone and that they were all alone with Flamebolt now.

"Where did you come from?" Sweetie Belle asked.

He pointed right above them, "A cloud up there, I was checking the area out when I noticed you three were dealing with them."

"Aren't you worried you'll get into a lot of trouble from this? Diamond Tiara's dad, Filthy Rich, has a lot of support here in Ponyville." Applebloom warned him.

He shrugged, "Nope, I could care less what he tries to do. Besides, that princess of yours will probably be able to handle it."

"But-" Applebloom tried to protest.

"Look I don't care about any of this, I'm only in town till my debt is paid and then this town will never have to deal with me again. Now go do whatever you usually do in your group, I'm gonna go now." He turned away and opened his wings, preparing to take off.

"Flamebolt wait!" Scootaloo quickly shouted, causing him to stop. "Can you take me home? Granny Care-Care wanted you to stop by."

"But didn't we plan to-" Sweetie Belle questioned.

He sighed, interrupting Sweetie Belle "Alright fine, I'll take you back to the orphanage."

Scootaloo nodded, "Sorry girls, I promise I'll be right back. Besides, I left my scooter at home anyways so this will work out for me."

The others were puzzled as to what her reason was for this sudden change to their plans, but they agreed and told her to meet them at Rarity's Boutique when she gets back.

Flamebolt decided it was best to let her get on his back so they could get there quickly. He bent down and helped the orange filly get on and with a quick flap of his wings, he blasted into the sky and quickly zoomed over to where Scootaloo directed him.

"I'm sorry for making you do this, but Granny Care-Care told me it was important for me to tell you to meet her," she apologized.

"It's whatever, she told me to see her whenever I had time anyways. Guess it's better to do it now than later," he explained to her, keeping his focus in front of him as he searched for the orphanage.

For the next minute, they flew in silence but Scootaloo had something on her mind and this would be the only opportunity she got to ask him. "Uh Flamebolt? I need to tell you something."

She explained that she asked Caring Heart about their relationship and wanted to know why she never heard anything about him from her. She even mentioned that she learned a bit of his past of how he never had a friend or that he struggled to fly just like her and even told him about her and the crusader's plan to help with making a friend. She immediately apologized for being so nosey and shouldn't have made Caring Heart tell her about the past he never wants to talk about.

His anger was slowly rising again whenever he heard their plan but flying was helping him stay calm as he let out a frustrated sigh, "Now you too?"

"I'm really, really sorry I just-" she suddenly stopped after realizing what he said, "Me too?"

He explained his situation earlier with Rainbow Dash and that he would only get a rematch with her if he opened up a bit. He didn't tell Scootaloo what he said to Rainbow Dash but mentioned that she was just as nosey as the cyan pegasus.

"Wow, Rainbow Dash too...I'm sorry I didn't know..." Her ears dropped and felt guilty for what she did.

"It's already annoying that she's making me do this but now I gotta deal with you? This day just gets better and better," he grumbled.

"I-I just wanted to know something, ever since the day you and Granny Care-Care reunited, she has been in such a better mood. She's even singing and humming, I've never seen her so happy and it's all because of you," she admitted her curiosity.

"She...wasn't always like that?" He asked, the tone in his question sounded like he was a bit worried.

"No, she was always kind to us but deep down it felt like she was losing hope. It was like her heart was broken and there was no way to fix it again..." She explained.

"So that's how it was..." He whispered.

She thought she heard him say something but he denied saying anything. Another minute passed and the silence returned, he was thinking to himself and started to understand the pain Caring was going through all this time. Guilt started to take control as he remembered their talk at the hospital, "Alright kid, I'll tell you one thing about myself."

Scootaloo's ear perked up as her eyes began to sparkle in excitement, "Really?!"

"But you better not tell anypony else, I hate the fact I'm even doing this but since you're probably gonna keep snooping into my life, you get one from me," he gave her a strict warning.

"R-Right! I Pinkie Promise! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" She recited the Pinkie Pie oath, never to tell a pony what he was about to tell her.

He had no clue what she just said but it seemed like she was going to keep her promise, "I had a dream when I was your age, I wanted to become a great Wonderbolt."

"You wanted to become a Wonderbolt too! You and Rainbow Dash have the same dream!" She shouted in joy.

" _Had_ the same dream, now I can never look at them the same again," he informed her.

"W-What do you mean? What happened?" She asked, her joy changed to concern for what could have caused him to feel this way.

"Found out that one of the members was keeping a secret from everypony and got away with it," he responded with disgust.

"What was the secret? Who was the member?" She added more questions.

"It doesn't matter, I tried to reveal the truth and no pony believed me. Said I was trying to give the Wonderbolts a bad name and banned me from ever being a part of them," he revealed to her.

"You're banned from ever becoming a Wonderbolt!? That's horrible!" She shouted in shock.

"The worst part of it...the member was one of my role models. A pony I wanted to be like, nothing more than a fraud..." He gritted his teeth in anger, "I wasted so much of my time believing that they were this great squad, but it turns out it was just a lie."

"But Rainbow Dash...she's always wanted to be one and even got a spot in the reserves. How can you say that it's a lie? She has a clear shot of becoming a full fledged member." She retorted, defending Rainbow Dash who she looked up to.

"I'm not gonna ruin it for her, I know what I saw and lost all respect for them after that. If she wants to still be one then let her, at least one of us can keep that old dream alive..." He trailed off.

"Flamebolt..." Seeing him be this sincere, she started to think that maybe he really was wronged.

"That's all you get from me, now will you stop trying to pry into my life?" He asked.

"I will and I promise I won't say anything about this either," she wrapped her arms around his neck and softly hugged him.

"Thanks...Scootaloo..." He whispered, for some reason he felt a little lighter. Maybe he was imagining things but feeling her arms wrapped around his neck was comforting in a way.

Soon the orphanage was coming into sight, he slowly started to descend until he landed in front of the small home with Scootaloo. The building was worn down, pieces of wood were coming off and nails were sticking out. Behind the building, there was a large gate that stretched at least a hundred yards with a playground within the gate.

Now that he has arrived, it was time to see what Caring Heart wanted to talk to him about this time. "So this is where you live?"

"Yup!" She got off his back, "Everypony is probably inside by now."

The front door opened and Caring Heart appeared, she looked like she was about to run some errands as she had a saddle on her back and was holding a small piece of white paper. Her eyes were glued to the paper as she started mumbling whatever was on it.

"Granny Care-Care! I brought some company!" Scootaloo called out to her.

She looked up from the paper and saw the two in front of her. A big smile grew on her face when she saw who the guest was. "Oh Flamebolt! I'm so happy you came for a visit."


End file.
